NYCOSH: What Led to Chelsea Blast? Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit source - Jonathan Bennett New York Post - May 6, 2002 http://www.nypost.com/postopinion/opedcolumnists/47238.htm What Led to Chelsea Blast By Gerald V. Poje [For an archive of more than 90 documents and news articles concerning chemical hazards and occupational health, please visit http://www.nycosh.org/linktopics/chemhazards.html] May 6, 2002 -- When an explosion ripped through a commercial building in New York City's Chelsea last month injuring dozens, New Yorkers and indeed most Americans immediately suspected another act of terrorism. But the early suspect in this blast is an uncontrolled, accidental chemical reaction. Preliminary findings point to inadequate regulations and poor training regarding reactive chemicals, circumstances we are quite familiar with at the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board. Hazardous chemicals, in potentially devastating quantities, are all around us in our cities, homes and workplaces. Kaltech, the firm that occupied three of the 10 floors in the mixed-use Chelsea building, had significant amounts of hazardous and potentially incompatible materials on-site. Its neighbors likely never realized the dangers lurking in the building. Sadly, their experience is not unique. For example, in 1999, a Lehigh County, Pa., start-up company called CSI was trying to produce a new chemical for the electronics industry. A chemical decomposition reaction released an explosion equivalent to 800 pounds of TNT, obliterating the plant, etching a 26-foot crater in the concrete floor and killing four workers. A manager in a neighboring business was also killed. Like Chelsea's Kaltech, CSI was located in a mixed-use complex. The U.S. Chemical Safety Board's investigation showed that CSI had taken steps to locate its factory where local zoning laws permitted hazardous chemical facilities within "light industrial" settings. There are also significant gaps in safety regulations issued by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). A federal judge threw out charges against CSI's owner, citing ambiguities in the OSHA rules governing the unstable chemical that was involved. Just this year, OSHA announced that it was dropping plans to improve the regulation of reactive chemicals from its annual agenda. This action came despite longstanding calls from labor groups, including the International Association of Firefighters, to close such gaps. The Chelsea explosion highlights another of our concerns: language barriers. Kaltech employed workers from Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America, many with a limited command of English. A number of these people, who came to America in search of opportunity, now lie hospitalized. How can we assure the safety of such workers, in a country where technical hazard information and safety training is usually available only in English? Language barriers contributed to a 1998 accident that killed four workers at a Sierra Chemical plant in Nevada that stored thousands of pounds of high-explosive material. The blast was felt 12 miles away in Reno. The Chemical Safety Board's investigation revealed that although most of the workers spoke Spanish, their training material and hazard information was available only in English. Recently, a U.S. Senate Committee began hearings on the subject of immigrant worker safety in plants like Kaltech's in Chelsea. This work must move forward. While the country is now rightly focused on reducing the risks of terrorism, we must not overlook the continuing risk from chemical accidents. By addressing the root causes of the Chelsea tragedy and others like it, we can improve safety for workers, emergency responders and their communities. [Gerald V. Poje, a toxicologist, is one of three board members of the U.S. Chemical Safety Board, a federal agency that investigates and seeks to prevent chemical accidents. He is part of a team investigating the Chelsea explosion.] * Jonathan Bennett, Public Affairs Director New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health 275 7th Ave., New York, N.Y. 10001 jbennett@nycosh.org Tel: 212-627-3900 ext. 14 Fax: 212-627-9812 Please visit our website: http://www.nycosh.org. Subscribe to our free biweekly Update on Safety and Health by sending an e-mail message to nycosh@nycosh.org NYCOSH is a non-profit provider of occupational safety and health training, advocacy and information (including technical assistance and industrial hygiene consultation) to workers and unions throughout the New York metropolitan area. Our membership consists of more than 250 union organizations and 400 individuals: union members, health and safety activists, injured workers, healthcare workers, attorneys, public health advocates, environmentalists and concerned citizens. NYCOSH is a union shop. Its staff is represented by the Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Energy Workers International Union (PACE) Local 1-149. ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytnyc-05.06.02-19:42:15-17331