BEAUMONT, Texas — A Canadian company has been fined nearly $400,000 by the US Department of Labor for failing to protect its workers in Beaumont from toxic gas while cleaning out a tanker truck earlier this year.
Two employees of Trimac Transportation were injured as well as a pair of Beaumont firefighters who came to their aid in April 2023.
Trimac Transportation has been fined $399,349 in connection with the incident by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, or OSHA, which is part of the Department of Labor.
The workers were cleaning out a tanker truck at National Tank Service, which is operated by Trimac Transportation, in the 5000 block of Washington Blvd when they were exposed to hydrogen sulfide according to a news release from the Department of Labor.
Both workers lost consciousness at the scene and were taken to a Beaumont hospital where one was hospitalized following their exposure to the gas according to the release and file stories.
Hydrogen Sulfide is a flammable, highly toxic colorless gas.
Two Beaumont firefighters were also exposed while coming to the workers’ aid and were treated at the scene for exposure to the chemical according to file stories.
Investigators from OSHA say Trimac Transportation “did not provide adequate respiratory protection.”
They also say the company didn’t “evaluate the worksite for possible respiratory hazards like the one that sickened the workers, and did not monitor employees for exposure to other substances.”
“Exposure to toxic gases is a known health risk when cleaning tanks and trailers. National Tank Services must cease their lax approach to health and safety standards and immediately implement respiratory protection requirements, testing and other safety measures to prevent worker’s exposure to these deadly gases,” OSHA Area Director Mark Briggs in Houston was quoted as saying in the release.
Appropriate respirators along with fit testing for the safety equipment were also not provided by the company according to the news release.
There was also no required “respiratory protection program” to give medical evaluations to workers before using the unprovided respirators the release said.
The company also didn’t provide equipment like protective clothing, eye, face and hand protection, didn’t label containers and didn’t report injury and illness logs to OSHA within four hours the release said. In the past five years OSHA says these violations have happened at the company’s facilities in Georgia, Louisiana and Texas.
The company now has 15 business days to comply or contest the findings.
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This is a developing story. We will update with more if and when we receive more confirmed information.
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