Iron in the Fire: US Chemical Safety Board January 5, 2012 report on Hoeganaes explosions
The safety board also released a video called Iron in the Fire, which includes computerized simulations of the three separate Hoeganaes explosions that took five lives last year.
The U.S. Chemical Safety Board will lobby the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to publish proposed safety rules within the next year to help prevent combustible-dust accidents after such incidents killed several workers in Gallatin last year.
A final report was released Thursday morning detailing the agency’s investigation of three fires at the Hoeganaes iron powder manufacturing plant in Gallatin that killed a total of five workers last year. The three fires at the Hoeganaes facility occurred in January, March and May 2011.
The safety board said at a Nashville news conference that new, tougher OSHA standards should be fashioned to specifically include safety measures to control metal dust such as the materials associated with the Gallatin accidents.
“As I have said on numerous occasions, I believe that worker safety is a basic human right,” said board Chairman Rafael Moure-Eraso. “No worker should die or be severely injured simply trying to earn a living and provide for their families.”
The Chemical Safety Board will track whether the safety recommendations in the final report were implemented.
“We are prepared to tell the public if actions were taken or not, and that is part of what we do,” Moure-Eraso said.
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