JCI Jones Chemicals, Inc. has been assessed a $200,000 fine by the Environmental Protection Agency for safety violations at its Torrance, CA facility.
The EPA announced Dec. 7 that aside from the monetary penalty, JCI is also ordered to restore its facility to compliance with the chemical accident prevention requirements of the Clean Air Act.
“Preventing accidental releases is paramount in our mission to protect human health and the environment,” Amy Miller, EPA’s Enforcement and Compliance Assurance Division Director for the country’s Pacific Southwest region, said in the announcement on the agency's website. “This settlement ensures JCI takes appropriate steps to make its facility safer for neighboring communities.”
EPA inspectors in 2015 and 2017 determined that JCI committed a slew of violations of the Clean Air Act’s Chemical Accident Prevention requirements at its facility on 1401 W. Del Amo Blvd.
The company was also found to have poorly maintain infrastructure and equipment, as well as neglected to translate operating procedures for its Spanish-speaking employees.
According to the EPA, historically around 150 facilities that store extremely hazardous substances have catastrophic accidents each year.
A goal of the agency’s National Compliance Initiative is to lower the risk to human health and the environment by decreasing the likelihood of chemical accidents.
