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Vol. 74/No. 30      August 9, 2010

 
4 killed in Pennsylvania
as bosses ignore safety
 
BY CINDY JAQUITH  
Less than two weeks after a blast at a U.S. Steel coke plant in western Pennsylvania injured 20 workers, explosions at a zinc refinery and a natural gas well in the state claimed the lives of four workers.

James Taylor, 53, and Corey Keller, 41, were killed July 22 when an explosion ripped through a refinery that produces zinc oxide at Horsehead Holding Corp. near Monaca, Pennsylvania, 28 miles north of Pittsburgh. They died of smoke inhalation.

Horsehead Holding is the largest U.S. zinc producer. The Monaca facility employs some 600 workers and is organized by United Steelworkers Local 8183.

The plant has a history of unsafe conditions. The Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) cited the company with eight serious safety violations four months ago.

In 2006 OSHA fined the company $186,750 after a worker stepped into an uncovered pit of molten zinc, receiving severe burns. Horsehead knew the pit was open, the agency said, yet failed to provide any protective barrier.

In recent years OSHA has repeatedly fined the company for a range of safety violations, including failure to protect workers from cadmium and lead exposure or maintain required records of workers’ exposure levels.

The day after the blast at Horsehead, a natural gas well owned by Huntley & Huntley Inc. blew up in Indianola, northeast of Pittsburgh, as a crew was welding. An oil storage tank was thrown 70 feet by the blast. Two workers employed by Northeast Energy, an oil and gas exploration company, were killed. One of the victims has yet to be identified.

Shelley Henry, whose husband Kevin died in the blast, told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review that he worried about welding around live pipes filled with explosive gas and raised concerns with the company. She also said he was given little rest between jobs. The night before the explosion, for example, he had to work until 10:00 p.m., and then be back on the job at 6:00 a.m. the next day.

Henry asked how the site got approved for welding. “I want to see the inspection report,” she said.

In June a crew sinking a natural gas well in northern West Virginia hit a pocket of methane gas, causing an explosion that injured seven workers. In May, a worker was struck by a pipe and killed at a drilling site in Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania.
 
 
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