by James Parks, May 1, 2008

The U.S. House of Representatives took steps yesterday to force the Bush administration to protect workers from explosions from combustible dusts such as sugar dust.  

By a vote of 247-165, House members passed the Worker Protection Against Combustible Dust Explosion and Fire Act (H.R. 5522). The bill requires the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to issue rules regulating combustible industrial dusts that can build up to hazardous levels and explode. President Bush already has threatened to veto the measure if it is approved by Congress.  

The legislation follows the deadly Feb. 7 explosion at Imperial Sugar’s Port Wentworth, Ga., plant. Sugar dust had built to such a level that when an as yet unidentified source sparked the combustible sugar dust, the blast was so powerful it killed 13 workers, injured dozens more and caused extensive damage to the plant. 

Not only did OSHA not heed warnings from 2006 about the dangers of combustible dusts, but it has not so far shown any urgency in correcting this problem. The U.S. Chemical Safety Board conducted a major study of combustible dust hazards. It identified 281 combustible dust incidents between 1980 and 2005 that killed 119 workers, injured 718 others and extensively damaged industrial facilities.  

In March, during hearings on the bill, Tammy Miser, whose brother Shawn was killed in a 2003 combustible dust explosion in Huntington, Ind., told the House Education and Labor Committee: 

Shawn’s back was towards the furnace when they were picking up their tools and there was a blast. Some say Shawn got up and started walking towards the door and then there was a second, more intense blast. 

Shawn didn’t die instantly. He laid on building floor while the aluminum dust burnt through his flesh and muscle tissue. The breaths that he took burnt his internal organs, and the blast took his eyesight. Shawn was still conscious and asking for help….And the two things that I can always remember and that never leave are his last words, “I’m in a world of hurt,” and his last breaths.

In the floor debate on the bill, Republicans echoed the stunning view of the Bush administration and the business community that current OSHA standards protect workers from hazardous dust. The administration also says the bill allows insufficient time to develop and enact new regulations and does not seek enough input from business. 

Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.), the Education and Labor Committee chairman, said on the House floor yesterday that the Labor Department has failed to do its job to protect workers in this critical industry. (See video.)

And the facts on the ground are, the last time we put a standard was for the food and grain industry and it has turned out to be wildly successful. Why is it wildly successful? Because injuries went down 40 percent. Fatalities went down 60 percent. Explosions went down 60 percent. Don’t you think we know enough now to think that these other workers in this industry are entitled to this protection? But OSHA has done nothing. And if OSHA is not going to act, we must…in the name of the workers, in the name of their families, in the name of our nation, we owe it to them to protect these workers.

Print This Article | E-Mail This Article | Comments (0)