The U.S. Department of Labor found an Arizona Veterans' healthcare facility exposed employees to potentially deadly hazards on steam lines.
The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued a willful violation and two repeated violations to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs' Northern Arizona Healthcare System after finding the agency endangered maintenance workers by failing to ensure they followed safety procedures while working on steam lines at a healthcare facility in Prescott, according to an April 17 news release.
“Despite the tragic and preventable deaths of two workers at a facility in Connecticut in 2020, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs allowed the same hazards to endanger employees working on steam lines at its Prescott, Ariz., facility,” OSHA Area Director in Phoenix T. Barnett said in the release.
OSHA also issued three serious notices for exposing employees to burns and other serious injuries. During the October 2022 inspection, OSHA inspectors determined the Prescott facility lacked energy-isolating procedures to prevent the release of hazardous energy, and the facility failed to train workers on safety procedures, the release reported.
The VA has 15 business days to comply, request an informal conference with OSHA's area director or appeal the notices, according to the release.
This action comes less than two years after two workers died at the Veterans Affairs Healthcare System in West Haven, Conn., in November 2020 after suffering fatal burns while working on a steam line, where OSHA cited similar violations to those found in Prescott, the release said.
The VA's Northern Arizona Healthcare System serves more than 33,000 veterans at 12 locations in the region and employs nearly 400,000 people at its medical facilities, clinics and benefits offices, according to the release. Federal agencies must comply with the same safety and health standards as private sector employers, and the VA will not face monetary penalties for the violations.
“Federal law requires all employers, public or private, to provide a safe workplace. Management at all Veterans Affairs facilities should review their employee safety and health programs to ensure they comply with industry and OSHA standards for isolating hazardous energy before another tragedy occurs,” Barnett added, according to the release.
