West Texas Fertilizer Blast Captured on Cell Phone
What’s in a name?
Because I work in a combustible dust cleaning company, when an explosion happens in a factory that could have potentially been caused by combustible dust, it catches my attention. Fertilizer manufacturers are identified specifically as an industry at risk on OSHA’s Combustible Dust Fact Sheet. When I turned on the TV to see that there was a fire, then a massive explosion at a fertilizer plant in North Texas, I feared that the incident could have been caused by combustible dust.
I watched as Piers Morgan interviewed Dr. George Smith, an EMS doctor from West Texas about the unfolding events. Dr. Smith said he suspected that grain stored in the facility contributed to the explosion. “Because grain”, he said, “Is REALLY explosive.” (We know that grain dust, not the grain itself, is the explosion hazard.)
And so now, what we thought was a fertilizer manufacturer, is now also identified as a grain storage facility. But as it turns out, it’s neither. The company is classified as a farm supplies merchant wholesaler, and the reason why it matters what we call it is because the safety regulations aren’t the same.
OSHA’s Process Safety Management (PSM) standard is one of those regulations, created to evaluate the whole chemical process, and control associated potential risks.
The Process Safety Management standard targets highly hazardous chemicals that have the potential to cause a catastrophic incident. The purpose of the standard as a whole is to aid employers in their efforts to prevent or mitigate episodic chemical releases that could lead to a catastrophe in the workplace and possibly in the surrounding community. SOURCE: OSHA 3133 Process Safety Management Guidelines for Compliance)
The OSHA Process Safety Management (PSM) standard applies to the following:
(a) A process which involves a chemical at or above the specified threshold quantities listed in Appendix A to the standard. There are 162 chemicals on the list, and Anhydrous Ammonia is one of them.
(b) A process which involves a flammable liquid or gas on site in one location, in a quantity of 10,000 pounds or more. (The company reports 54,000 pounds of Anhydrous Ammonia at West Fertilizer.)
West meets both specifications, so the PSM should apply. But it doesn’t.
OSHA’s Process Safety Management rule found at 29 CFR 1910.119 does not apply to a retail facility provided more than half (>50%) of the income is from sales of anhydrous ammonia to the end user – farmers. (Source: Varnco Letter of Interpretation dated January 26, 2001 and 29 CFR 1910.119(a)(2)(i) via Combustible Dust Policy Institute/John Astad)
In other words, since more than 50% of business comes from the sale of the Anhydrous Ammonia, West Fertilizer Co. is exempt from standards that would require a Process Hazard Analysis (PHA) to identify and control all of the hazards associated with having 54,000 pounds of Anhydrous Ammonia onsite.
The EPA doesn’t exempt retail facilities as OSHA does, and still requires a Risk Management Plan, or RMP. Part of the plan requires the company to identify a worst-case-scenario in case of an accidental release of the anhydrous ammonia. The company identified an ammonia leak, which, under their required RMP program, isn’t necessarily incorrect. The program doesn’t require fire or explosion risk hazard analysis – only risk for release of toxins, as it’s designed for compliance with the Federal Clean Air Act. And since anhydrous ammonia is classified as nonflammable, the program doesn’t require any offsite consequence analysis.
The bottom line is that there are thousands of these retail facilities operating across the country without having to assess ALL of the risks associated with handling highly hazardous chemicals, including fire and explosion risks. And while we don’t know what caused or fueled the blast for certain yet, as regulations go, the company seems to be in compliance because it is a wholesaler, not a plant. So what’s in a name? A lot, it seems.
