Region 10 News Release:   #01-199
Dec. 11, 2001
Contact: Jeannine Lupton
Phone: 206-553-7620

OSHA CITES ARDCO CORP. FOLLOWING FATALITY AT IDAHO JOB SITE

SEATTLE - A fatal accident in June at a job site in Idaho has resulted in citations and fines by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration against a Colorado company for failure to protect workers from the hazards of powerful liquid cutting streams.

OSHA announced today it issued a willful and a serious citation to Ardco Corporation of Denver, Colo., with $63,000 in proposed penalties, for alleged safety violations at a job in Soda Springs, Idaho.

In June 2001, an Ardco employee in Soda Springs was killed when a hose coupling on a high-pressure liquid cutter failed, and he was injected in the abdomen with a water stream. The alleged willful citation stated that power operated tools were not equipped with guards to protect operators and other employees from hazards created by exposure to liquid cutting streams.

"Workers were exposed to cutting streams of approximately 36,000 pounds per square inch while cutting and removing the rubber lining of a phosphoric acid tank," said Ryan Kuehmichel, area director for the agency's Boise office, which conducted the investigation.

Alleged serious violations included failure to provide a workplace free from recognized hazards in that employees were exposed to ultra high pressure water jet cutting streams; lack of an accident prevention program; use of machinery, tools, material and equipment that did not comply with applicable safety regulations; lack of employee safety training; inadequate personal protective equipment for workers; failure to provide a written respiratory protection program or suitable in-line air-purifying sorbent beds and filters; and use of oil-lubricated compressors to supply breathing air that were not equipped with alarms to monitor carbon monoxide levels.

According to Kuehmichel, the company has 15 working days to contest the citations.

A willful violation is defined by OSHA as one committed with an intentional disregard of, or plain indifference to, the requirements of the Occupational Safety and Health Act and regulations.

A serious violation is one in which there is substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result, and the employer knew or should have known of the hazard.

The Boise OSHA area director may be contacted at 1150 North Curtis Road, Boise, Idaho 83706, telephone 208 321-2960.