Nitro Gas Facility Cited After Worker Death
A nitrogen gas facility located next door to Pennsylvania has been cited for numerous federal workplace safety violations.
AC&S Inc. was slapped by inspectors from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) with 12 serious violations at its Nitro, West Virginia, manufacturing plant.
Among the dangerous conditions at the facility:
- Defective air hoods for workers
- Inadequate worker training
- Unsafe handrails on stairs.
OSHA launched the investigation in July 2012 following the death of a worker doing sandblasting.
During the sandblasting, the air line for a supplied air hood was mistakenly hooked up to a nitrogen gas line and the worker became unconscious. OSHA cited AC&S for failing to label nitrogen lines at connection points and not ensuring that breathing air couplings were incompatible with other gas systems.
Other serious violations found at the Nitro plant:
- Failing to provide training on hazardous chemicals
- Failing to ensure stairways wider than 44 inches had handrails on each side
- Failing to use approved electrical chain hoists
- Failing to develop a mechanical integrity program.
A “serious violation” means there is substantial probability that a worker could be killed or seriously hurt as a result of the hazardous condition.
Proposed penalties against AC&S Inc. total $42,700.
Every year thousands of construction workers and laborers are killed or seriously injured while working at job sites in Pennsylvania and elsewhere.
According to U.S. statistics, there are more than 5 million work-related injuries and illnesses and approximately 6,000 workplace fatalities each year.
Marion Munley
Marion Munley has been practicing personal injury law for nearly 40 years. She is triple board-certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy for Truck Accident Law, Civil Trial Law, and Civil Practice Advocacy. She currently serves as Vice President of the American Association for Justice, an organization dedicated to safeguarding victims’ rights. Marion has won many multimillion-dollar recoveries for her clients, including one of the largest trucking accident settlements in history. She has been named a Top 10 Super Lawyer in Pennsylvania since 2023, a Best Lawyer in America, and was recently inducted to the Lawdragon Hall of Fame.
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