The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) found the Department of Interior’s Bureau of Land Management violated procedures for safe handling of chemical materials at its helium enrichment unit in Amarillo, Texas.
The Cliffside Helium Enrichment Unit had been issued 21 notices of unsafe working conditions by OSHA, according to a Jan. 13 release from the Department of Labor. The unit was inspected by the Department of Interior’s Office of the Inspector General on June 8, 2021, after receiving serious safety and health allegations from workers at the facility.
“OSHA found the Bureau of Land Management’s Cliffside Helium Enrichment Unit willfully and repeatedly failed to take required safety measures to ensure the facility’s compliance with federal safety and health procedures and protect employees from chemical production hazards,” OSHA's Assistant Secretary of Labor Douglas Parker said in the release.
The violations of the facility carries a private sector penalty of $1,023,987, according to the release.
Of the violations, six include failing to train workers to understand the purpose and function of the energy control program, and five include failing to perform inspections and tests on process equipment, the release states. Among these, OSHA cited serious violations for process safety management failures and others for notification and records violations.
This comes as the helium enrichment unit reportedly violated the Occupational Safety & Health Act of 1970, which states federal agencies must comply with the same safety standards as private-sector employees.
