The following information was received from the Utility Workers Union of America
Covanta Energy Cited by OSHA for Fire Safety Violations
Braintree, Mass. – The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited Covanta Energy for safety violations at the company’s trash-burning plant in West Wareham, Massachusetts.
On April 2, 2009, the federal agency cited four “serious” violations of safety rules at Covanta’s SEMASS plant, including for storing oxygen cylinders immediately next to combustible acetylene cylinders and for electrical equipment “secured” with duct tape and cardboard. The OSHA citations were based on a comprehensive safety inspection requested last fall by Utility Workers Local 369, which represents employees at the plant.
“It is intolerable that a company operating facilities as dangerous as waste incinerators would jeopardize employee safety by allowing these kinds of conditions,” declared Gary P. Sullivan, President of UWUA Local 369. “Covanta’s lax enforcement of fire safety rules at SEMASS is especially outrageous, since this company was previously cited by OSHA in connection with a massive fire at this same facility only two years ago.”
On March 31, 2007, a catastrophic fire broke out at the plant following an explosion in one of the facility’s garbage shredders, which shred municipal waste to fuel the plant’s incinerators. The fire quickly spread from the fuel building to the powerhouse over fiberglass air ducts installed between the two buildings. The fire burned for two days before being suppressed by fire departments called in from 36 surrounding communities, causing $18 million in damages to the facility.
In the wake of the fire, OSHA cited Covanta for failing to require employees fighting the fire inside the powerhouse to wear suitable protective clothing. Covanta subsequently replaced the combustible fiberglass ducts that had enabled the fire to spread between the buildings with non-combustible stainless steel ducts, based on recommendations in an engineering report commissioned to evaluate the plant’s fire protection systems after the incident.
In the most recent safety violations, OSHA cited Covanta for storing oxygen and acetylene cylinders side-by-side on a welding cart with no barrier between them. Fire safety regulations require employers to separate oxygen cylinders and fuel gas cylinders at least 20 feet apart or by a non-combustible barrier at least five feet high.
In addition, the federal agency cited Covanta for covering up openings in electrical equipment in a motor control center “by cardboard and/or duct tape so that the integrity of the enclosure was not maintained to contain a blast in the event of equipment failure.” OSHA also cited the company for an opening in a distribution panel breaker partially covered with duct tape, and for other instances of improper maintenance of electrical equipment.
Utility Workers Union of America (UWUA) Local 369 represents over 3,000 working men and women in the utility and related industries throughout Massachusetts, and is affiliated with the Utility Workers Union of America, AFL-CIO.
The April 2, 2009, OSHA citations against Covanta and additional information concerning the Union’s campaign for justice for Covanta workers are available at www.cjcw.org
1Shlomo on May 11, 2009 at 1:30 pm:
Campaigners say USA firm’s safety record should bar it from Wales
May 11 2009 by Martin Shipton, Western Mail
SERIOUS questions are being asked about whether a waste firm should be welcomed to Wales after it was cited for four serious safety violations in America.
Covanta wants to develop a £400m “energy from waste” incinerator at Merthyr Tydfil, but the project is being met with stiff resistance from neighbouring residents and environmentalists.
Campaigners against the proposal have drawn attention to the company’s safety record in the USA, where it has been fined hundreds of thousands of dollars after exceeding emission limits relating to cancer-causing chemicals from its plants.
Now the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has cited Covanta Energy for safety violations at its waste incinerator in West Wareham, Massachusetts.
The breaches, which are not disputed by the company, relate to fire risks caused by the storage of oxygen cylinders immediately next to combustible acetylene cylinders and for electrical equipment “secured” with duct tape and cardboard. The citations followed a safety inspection requested by the local branch of the Utility Workers Union of America, whose members work at the plant.
The union’s local president Gary P Sullivan said: “It is intolerable that a company operating facilities as dangerous as waste incinerators would jeopardise employee safety by allowing these kinds of conditions. Covanta’s lax enforcement of fire safety rules is especially outrageous, since this company was previously cited in connection with a massive fire at this same facility only two years ago [which caused $18m worth of damage].”
Gordon James, director of Friends of the Earth Cymru, said: “This is the latest in a number of worrying incidents where this company has been cited for unacceptable practices. There should be no welcome in Wales for a company with such a blemished track record.”
Elizabeth Condron, who fought a long legal battle trying to stop the development of the Ffos-y-Fran opencast site near her home and adjacent to the site earmarked by Covanta, said: “I hope that before the authorities consider Covanta’s application to build an incinerator in Merthyr, they take note of this company’s record in America.”
A spokesman for Covanta said: “We do not tolerate poor safety conditions. All four issues reported to OSHA have been addressed and rectified.”
2anonymus welder on Aug 20, 2009 at 2:56 am:
To whom it may concern,
I strongly suggest that you do not build a Covanta waste to energy facility. I have been working as a contractor for Covanta for several years now. at the time of the fire at Covanta Semass in Wareham, MA, i was currently going on to shift for work. the fire that broke out caused interstate 495 to temporarily close down, and many residents around the facility had to be evacuated due to the smoke pouring out of that area. The cause of the explosion was due to the incompetence of a worker missing a pallet of spray foam insulation tanks going down a msw conveyor into the hammermill.
these facilities are poorly repaired to save this company money and labor, that they totally disregard the safety and well being of the employees and contractors, all to get a bigger bonus at the end of the year. this goes for pretty much of the Covanta plants on the east coast that we have worked at.
the sda/ scrubbers for filtering out toxins are in a rate of collapse. There are several unstable areas located in these structures that still emit toxins into the air, polluting the outside environment. some facilities resort to to spray foam, silicone, shrink wrap with sheet metal with screws to hold it down.
There have been instances on night shift at a facility in Chester, PA where they have saved massive amounts of tires to incinerate at night because of the black smoke that is generated, and the particulates are so large that they bounce off cars in the parking lot.
There are so many more facilities that have extreme health and safety violations that there is no room for it to post…
BEWARE OF COVANTA ENGLAND!!!