{"id":3553,"date":"2018-07-09T07:36:53","date_gmt":"2018-07-09T11:36:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/?p=3553"},"modified":"2018-07-08T17:19:43","modified_gmt":"2018-07-08T21:19:43","slug":"worker-killed-louisiana-vpp-site","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/2018\/07\/09\/worker-killed-louisiana-vpp-site\/","title":{"rendered":"Worker Killed at Louisiana VPP Site"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"vppA worker was killed last Wednesday<\/a> after falling into the water basin of the primary cooling tower at the Phillips 66 Alliance Refinery<\/a> in Belle Chasse, Louisiana. The worker, Jerome Matthews,\u00a0was a contract worker employed by\u00a0HydroChemPSC. He fell into the 15-foot basin, which prompted a shutdown of the entire refinery after multiple recovery attempts were unsuccessful.\u00a0 His body was recovered on Saturday, after the refinery was shut down.<\/p>\n

The refinery is a participant in OSHA’s Voluntary Protection Programs<\/a> (VPP), OSHA’s program for\u00a0“employers and workers in the private industry and federal agencies who have implemented effective safety and health management systems and maintain injury and illness rates below national Bureau of Labor Statistics averages for their respective industries.”<\/p>\n

In response to a number of VPP participants where workers had been killed, or where the facility had received willful OSHA citations, OSHA\u00a0issued “Memorandum 7” in 2013 to improve OSHA\u2019s response to employee deaths and willful violations at VPP sites. The new policy required the status of the VPP site to be changed to \u201cInactive Pending Fatality\/Catastrophe Inspection\u201d immediately following a fatality (either of the employer\u2019s employee or an employee of a non-VPP contractor at the site<\/em>.)<\/p>\n

Following a citation, if it was determined that the fatality was work-related, or when a site is placed in the\u00a0Severe Violator Enforcement Program<\/a>, or when a willful violation(s) was issued, an Intent to Terminate (ITT) Letter was automatically sent to the facility. The facility could then appeal the ITT to the Assistant Secretary with\u00a0the reasons why it should not be removed from VPP. The Assistant Secretary \u2014 in consultation with the Regional Administrator \u2014 would then make a determination about whether the facility should be terminated. Facilities were also given the opportunity to voluntarily withdraw from VPP instead of being terminated.<\/p>\n

OSHA recently softened Memorandum 7<\/a>, by removing any reference to willful violations or being placed\u00a0in OSHA\u2019s\u00a0Severe Violator Enforcement Program and Secretary of Labor Alex Acosta has stated that he wants to expand the program.\u00a0 This seems to be the first VPP facility to suffer a fatality since the new memorandum was issued.<\/p>\n

OSHA has six months to issue citations, after which a determination will be made whether to terminate the site’s participation in VPP.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A worker was killed last Wednesday after falling into the water basin of the primary cooling tower at the Phillips 66 Alliance Refinery in Belle Chasse, Louisiana. The worker, Jerome Matthews,\u00a0was a contract worker employed by\u00a0HydroChemPSC. He fell into the 15-foot basin, which prompted a shutdown of the entire refinery after multiple recovery attempts were […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[203],"tags":[137],"class_list":["post-3553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-voluntary-protection-programs","tag-louisiana"],"yoast_head":"\nWorker Killed at Louisiana VPP Site<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A contract worker was killed at a Louisiana refinery participating in OSHA's premier Voluntary Protection Program.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, 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