Following Deadly Explosion at PCA Corrugated Mill in Wisconsin, CSB Issues Safety Bulletin on Hazards of Welding and Other Hot Work
Proper Combustible Gas Monitoring Among Seven Key Safety Lessons from a CSB Investigation of Multiple Hot Work Disasters
Wausau, Wisconsin, March 4, 2010 – The U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) today issued a safety bulletin warning of the hazards of conducting hot work in a variety of industries and identifying seven key lessons aimed at preventing worker deaths during hot work in and around storage tanks containing flammable materials.
Hot work is defined as any work activity that involves burning, welding, cutting, brazing, grinding, soldering, or similar spark-producing operations that can ignite a flammable atmosphere
The CSB began investigating hot work hazards following an explosion that occurred on July 29, 2008, at the Packaging Corporation of America (PCA) corrugated cardboard mill in Tomahawk, Wisconsin, which killed three maintenance workers and injured another. The CSB determined the explosion resulted from welding above an 80-foot-tall storage tank that contained highly flammable hydrogen gas – the product of bacterial decomposition of organic fiber waste inside the tank.
You can Read the rest of the article here on the U.S. Chemical Safety Board web site.
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