What’s the bad outcome if your business plan involves exposing workers to hazardous materials and it kills two of them? The Occupational Safey & Health Administration (OSHA) will seek some money from you. In the case of Victor & Carlos Diaz, who died Dec.1, 2007 in a dilution tank at North East Linen of Linden NJ, OSHA seeks $79,250 in penalties. Killing workers certainly seems cheaper than killing pedestrians. Based on what I’ve been told, I think the OSHA charges and proposed penalties understate the wrongs that North East Linen and its owner committed.

For links to my prior posts on this click here.

North East Linen is an industrial laundry. It washes table clothes, napkins, uniforms. It discharges the used wash water to Linden NJ sewers. That water would be too corrosive because the washing process uses alkaline chemicals to clean, so North East adds sulfuric acid to the water to neutralize it. Sulfuric acid, itself, is a dangerous chemical to work with. When you buy it, you get a “material safety data sheet (MSDS)” which tells you about the dangers. If you’re interested, look at some MSDS’ for sulfuric Acid here , here and here. So North East & its owner John Ryan, as I see it, actually knew about sulfuric acid – which is not surprising as it is a common, if dangerous, chemical.

As the sulfuric acid sits in the tank, it generates a smelly gas, hydrogen sulfide. The tank would regularly begin to smell of rotten eggs, I’m told, and the workers would complain regularly. Management’s first response would be to open the windows and the next would be to send workers into the tank to clean out gunk at the tank bottom. (Properly done, a team of trained workers, uses complex protective equipment to do a job like this.). The rotten egg smell, many of us were taught in high school chemistry, is the odor caused by that highly toxic gas: Hydrogen Sulfide. At very low levels, hydrogen sulfide gas stinks intensely – alerting people to danger. As concentrations increase, people’s sense of the rotten egg smell goes away. Here is an article about hydrogen sulfide gas from the Agency For Toxic Substances and Disease Registry . In the tank, I am told, emergency responders found hydrogen sulfide gas levels at 800,000 ppm – 600 ppm is considered lethal.

On Dec. 1, Victor and Carlos Diaz were sent to clean out the tank. They were provided with no respiratory protective equipment whatsoever. They were provided with no gear to protect them from the corrosive effects of the acid in the tank. They were equipped with no harnesses to pull them to safety if they were overcome by fumes. They were not supervised by anyone outside the tank who could call for help in the event of trouble. There was no rescue team equipped to pull them out of the tank.

Here’s what OSHA said in its press release with my comments:

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has cited North East Linen for multiple alleged safety and health violations after a double fatality at the company’s Linden facility.
OSHA initiated its investigation on Dec. 1, 2007, following the fatal accident. Two employees, who were cleaning a waste water tank, were discovered at the bottom of the tank, which was oxygen-deficient and contained hazardous chemicals. The investigation resulted in one willful, 12 serious and two other-than-serious violations.

OSHA’s characterization of the events of Dec 1, as an “accident” shaped its investigation. What was accidental about directing Victor & Carlos Diaz into the tank? What was accidental about providing no protective gear and no supervision? OSHA confirmed to me that the hazardous chemicals referred to in the press release were H2SO4 and H2S. Have you noticed that the two killed are nameless in the press release?

“North East Linen did not take the appropriate steps to train its employees about potential hazards and to ensure its employees did not enter the waste water tank, which led to this tragedy,” says Robert D. Kulick, director of OSHA’s Avenel , N.J. , area office.

OSHA’s Avenel NJ office has a record of exemplary work but look at what Mr. Kulick is saying. He is saying that North East Linen did not prevent Victor & Carlos Diaz from entering the tank. Far from “not preventing” them; North East directed them to the death tank.

The company was cited for a willful violation for failing to provide hazard communication training. The serious citations include North East Linen’s failure to provide adequate means of egress; to take effective measures to prevent employees from entering the waste water tank; to lock out, or prevent accidental start-up of, equipment; to determine the presence and quantity of asbestos-containing material and not labeling the material; to close unused openings on an electrical panel; and to provide other necessary training.
“This horrible tragedy underscores the need for all employers to implement effective safety and health management systems,” said Louis Ricca Jr., acting administrator for OSHA’s New York region. “It also reinforces the need for employers to provide their employees with appropriate training, direction, personal protective equipment and engineering controls, particularly when working in and around confined spaces.”
OSHA defines a willful violation as one committed with plain indifference to or intentional disregard for employee safety and health. A serious citation is issued when death or serious physical harm is likely to result from a hazard about which the employer knew or should have known.
OSHA is proposing a total of $79,250 in fines for the combined violations.

Do you think that North East Linen exhibited “plain indifference” to the health & safety of Victor & Carlos Diaz when it directed them into the tank with no protection whatsoever? I do. One of the reasons omitted by OSHA for thinking North East Linen's action exhibited plain indifference and intentional disregard for the safety & health of its employees, is that it's sister plant -- New England Linen of New Haven, -- under common ownership and management, had received comparable OSHA violations in the past. Why doesn't OSHA consider boss' bad record is determining charges and penalty? Those who've read this far may want to check out the testimony of Unite-Here Safety & Health Director Eric Frumin on the subject of North East Linen's lack-of-safety program.

In case you were wondering, OSHA's six-month time lag seems to have extinguished even the modest press interest in the deaths of Victor & Carlos Diaz. So far as I can tell only I and the Star-Ledger's Alixi Friedman have picked up the release.