AFCO, a Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, soap and detergent manufacturer, faces a $161,310 Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) fine following the agency’s investigation of a chemical gas release that sent a dozen workers to the hospital, the agency announced January 14.

OSHA cited AFCO, a manufacturing subsidiary of Zep Inc., with one repeat violation, nine serious violations, and two other-than-serious violations.

The agency launched an inspection after being notified by the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency and the facility’s operator about an incident involving a release of nitrogen dioxide gas. The release occurred when chemicals reacted while being processed by AFCO employees, according to OSHA.

AFCO, based in Atlanta, specializes in producing and distributing maintenance, cleaning, and sanitation solutions.

Agency inspectors determined that the company took no action to assess the impact of the release immediately and didn’t swiftly evacuate workers from the building as a precaution. Inspectors learned that workers were exposed to nitrogen dioxide gas levels above the chemical’s ceiling limit, resulting in 12 employees being evaluated at a local hospital and two requiring hospitalization.

During their investigation, inspectors determined that the company had no emergency response plan and that its respiratory protection and hazard communication programs didn’t meet federal requirements.

In the agency’s recommendations for abating the emergency response plan violation, it suggested the employer develop a plan that addressed the following:

• Pre-emergency planning and coordination with outside parties;
• Personnel roles, lines of authority, training, and communication;
• Emergency recognition and prevention;
• Safe distances and places of refuge;
• Site security and control;
• Evacuation routes and procedures;
• Decontamination;
• Emergency medical treatment and first aid;
• Emergency alert and response procedures;
• Response and follow-up critique; and
• Personal protective equipment (PPE) and emergency equipment.

OSHA found that AFCO’s written respiratory protection program lacked several required elements, including:

• Worksite-specific procedures;
• Procedures for selecting respirators for use in the workplace;
• Procedures for proper use of respirators in routine and reasonably foreseeable emergency situations;
• Procedures and schedules for cleaning, disinfecting, storing, inspecting, repairing, maintaining, and discarding respirators; and
• Procedures for regularly evaluating the effectiveness of the program.

The agency determined that AFCO hadn’t provided the facility’s first responders with hazardous waste operations and emergency response (HAZWOPER) training. Their lack of training in responding to chemical releases or spills led to employees’ chemical exposures.

OSHA recommended that AFCO train its responders so they could demonstrate competency in the following:

• An understanding of what hazardous substances are and their associated risks in an incident;
• An understanding of the potential outcomes in an emergency when hazardous substances are present;
• The ability to recognize the presence of hazardous substances in an emergency;
• The ability to identify hazardous substances;
• An understanding of the role of first responder awareness in the employer's emergency response plan, including site security and control and the U.S. Department of Transportation's Emergency Response Guidebook;
• The ability to realize the need for additional resources and to make appropriate notifications to the communication center;
• Knowledge of basic hazard and risk assessment techniques;
• Knowledge of selecting and using proper PPE provided to the first responder operational level;
• An understanding of basic hazardous materials terms;
• Knowledge of basic control, containment, and/or confinement operations within the capabilities of the resources and PPE available with their unit;
• Knowledge of basic decontamination procedures; and
• An understanding of the relevant standard operating procedures and termination procedures.

“AFCO’s lack of urgency in addressing the hazardous conditions put employees at serious risk,” Kevin T. Chambers, OSHA’s Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, area office director, said in an agency statement. “Employers have a legal responsibility to identify workplace hazards and take immediate action to protect their employees from harm.”

OSHA previously cited Zep in 2022 with four serious violations for its failures to protect employees from hazardous chemicals at its Emerson, Georgia, facility.