Almost four months after a deadly explosion halted work on a nearly $1-billion Connecticut powerplant under construction, developer Kleen Energy Systems LLC, Middletown, Conn., says the 620-MW gas-fired facility may be repaired and ready for operation next spring. But the U.S. Chemical Safety Board says it has found that “a disturbing number of companies” use the gas-blow pipe-cleaning process that led to the Feb. 7 explosion, which killed six workers and injured 50. Photo: U.S. Chemical Safety Board Kleen Energy Systems plant project, site of a fatal blast in February, could be completed by next spring, officials say. Gas blows
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration now has four crane-operator certification programs it formally recognizes, following an agreement with the National Center for Construction Education and Research, Gainesville, Fla. A signing ceremony for the OSHA-NCCER agreement was held on May 17. In March, OSHA finalized a similar agreement with The Crane Institute of America Certification Inc. OSHA’s first such crane-operator program agreement came in 1999, with the National Commission for the Certification of Crane Operators. The agency also signed an agreement in 2008 with the Operating Engineers Certification Program. Crane safety has become a priority for OSHA, the construction industry
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has expanded the list of organizations whose crane-operator certification programs it formally recognizes, with an agreement with the National Center for Construction Education and Research, Gainesville, Fla. Related Links: Ten Minutes With OSHA Chief David Michaels OSHA chief David Michaels, assistant secretary of labor for occupational safety and health, and NCCER President Don Whyte signed the voluntary agreement on May 17 at the Dept. of Labor headquarters in Washington. In March, OSHA finalized a similar agreement with The Crane Institute of America Certification Inc. OSHA's first such crane-operator program agreement came in 1999, with
Investigators are looking into the cause of a crane-boom failure that killed a worker at the construction site of Motiva’s Port Arthur refinery on April 19. The worker killed has been identified as Stewart Wayne Shaver, 41, who was working for Beacon Construction, a subsidiary of Bechtel Corp. Francis Canavan, a spokesman for Bechtel, wouldn’t comment on the circumstances surrounding the incident, saying it was still under investigation. However, he did say the crane used was a Bechtel-owned Link-belt RTC-8090 Series II, a 90-ton rough-terrain crane. The refinery is undergoing a 325,000-barrel-per-day expansion by a joint venture of San Francisco-based
An administrative law judge ruled on April 5 that Southern Pan Services, Lithonia, Ga., formwork subcontractor, willfully broke federal safety rules while working on a 413-car parking garage in Jacksonville, Fla., which collapsed during a concrete pour in December 2007, killing a construction worker. Administrative Law Judge Ken S. Welsch determined Southern Pan removed building supports but neglected to follow engineers’ plans to leave the supports in place during construction. Welsch set the fine at $40,000, although federal safety officials had sought a fine of $132,000. An attorney for Southern Pan did not comment.
After nearly four years of legal challenges and revisions, contractors and unions face stiffer federal safety mandates after April 22 for lead-paint dust containment in homes and public facilities built before 1978 that are occupied by children under the age of seven. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says its Renovation, Repair and Painting Rule will reduce child lead-poisoning levels, but some construction groups are concerned about added cost for small contractors as well as insufficient worker training around the U.S. Union painters practice new lead-paint-abatement protection techniques. The rule, first proposed in 2006, requires renovation workers to be EPA-certified and
The criminal prosecution of James F. Lomma, a prominent crane owner with offices in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, swivels on the failure of a Chinese rotator gear, the hold-down welding of which catastrophically snapped in May 2008, sending steel debris raining onto the streets of Manhattan’s Upper East Side. The event killed two construction workers. In an earlier Lomma crane collapse in midtown Manhattan in March 2008, seven people died; a rigging company was indicted for manslaugheter in that case. The charges also fire a warning shot over the boardrooms of construction firms across America: Equipment owners may
Lawyers for two workers injured in the deadly Feb. 7 explosion at the Kleen Energy powerplant in Middletown, Conn., allege that “multiple” ignition sources were in operation while natural gas was being purged from the nearly $1-billion construction site. The suit, filed by Timothy Hilliker and Harold Thoma, electricians for Ducci Electric, Torrington, Conn., claims that welding and grinding operations were taking place at the time of the purge, with electricity on-site and a gas-fueled torch heater in use. “If you release a massive amount of natural gas and you have all of these ignition sources operative, you have the
Lawyers for two of the workers injured in the deadly Feb. 7 explosion at the Kleen Energy powerplant in Middleton, Conn. are alleging that “multiple” ignition sources were in operation while natural gas was being purged from the nearly $1 billion construction site. Electricians Timothy Hilliker and Harold Thoma of Ducci Electric, Torrington, filed a lawsuit at Superior Court in Hartford claiming the gas purge at the 87,000-sq-ft facility was conducted with minimal supervision and without following standard protocol to protect against accidental ignition. The suit names Kleen Energy Systems, the project’s owner, O&G Industries, Torrington, general contractor and minority
Although federal investigators are unsure about what caused a fatal explosion on Feb. 7 at a powerplant under construction in central Connecticut, local officials are saying the accident occurred during blowdown operations in preparation for the facility’s scheduled opening this summer. Photo: AP/Wideworld Combined-cycle plant, set to open later this year, suffered severe structural damage. Reports are unconfirmed that authorities are investigating the possibility that a welder’s torch may have created the spark that caused the blast. But a spokesman for the project owner, Kleen Energy Systems LLC, Middletown, Conn., says police were still treating the site as a crime
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