Ammonia release leads to safety citations for frozen food company
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An Idaho frozen food manufacturer is facing $273,000 in proposed penalties from federal workplace safety regulators after a potentially lethal anhydrous ammonia release.
The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration found that Dickinson Frozen Foods Inc. was unprepared to respond to the release of 1,300 pounds of anhydrous ammonia at its Sugar City, Idaho, facility in December, the agency said Tuesday in a statement. No employees died or suffered injuries in the incident, but previous ammonia releases at the facility have hospitalized employees, according to the agency.
OSHA investigators issued 19 serious and two willful citations after the agency's investigation found that the company lacked an adequate emergency response program and training, failed to equip employees exposed to liquid ammonia with protective clothing and failed to maintain a process safety management plan spelling out a framework for any use, storage, handling or movement of highly hazardous chemicals, among other violations, according to the agency.
Anhydrous ammonia is a colorless gas that is widely used in agricultural and industrial refrigeration systems, although the ammonia vapor severely irritates and can easily damage the eyes and respiratory tract and can produce violent reactions and explosions when mixed with other chemicals, according to OSHA.
“It's a miracle no Dickinson Frozen Foods employees were killed or hurt last year,” David Kearns, OSHA area director in Boise, Idaho, said in a statement. “We're confident that workers at the facility will be much better protected by tightened safety procedures the company has agreed to institute should another release occur.”
A company spokesperson could not be immediately reached for comment.
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