Rethinking specifics at the incinerator

By Nathan Solheim
Assistant Metro Editor
02-11-2004

Workers who did not decontaminate properly and disobeyed safety procedures likely caused a recent agent alarm in an area of the Anniston Chemical Agent Disposal Facility where the presence of agent was thought unlikely to occur, officials said Tuesday. The workers will not be dismissed, but their actions have caused incinerator officials to rethink parts of their safety guidelines and to institute new measures and procedures. The incinerator shut down for about 20 hours last Wednesday and Thursday when an alarm sounded after trace amounts of GB nerve agent were detected in an observation corridor near one of the most toxic areas of the incinerator. The two workers had been changing some filters in an area called the toxic cubicle. As they were leaving the area, the alarm sounded. The incinerator has been processing M-55 rockets containing crystallized GB nerve agent for the past few months. Another alarm sounded at the incinerator’s medical clinic after the two workers were taken there for a medical exam. Trace amounts of agent left the incinerator’s protective measures while the two were in transport. Though some members of the incinerator staff had to leave the affected area, officials said there was no threat to the community or to the facility’s work force because the agent readings were extremely low. Tim Garrett, the Army’s incinerator project manager, said that during the operation one of the workers likely got agent on his protective suit while picking up one of the filters. The worker did not decontaminate immediately, which goes against incinerator safety procedures, Garrett said. “There’s some place in every agent room to decontaminate with,” Garrett said. “They have caustic and soap and scrub brushes and water to rinse it off.” The worker also used his hands, rather than a specialized tool, to grasp the filter — a point not specifically addressed in the facility’s safety procedures, said Bob Love, the Westinghouse site manager at the incinerator. Now it will be. “You can write general procedures, but most of the time you don’t write specific details — it just says pull out the basket,” Love said. “But they are told to minimize their contact with agent. We don’t want them touching agent unless they absolutely have to.” The workers were coming out of the toxic cubicle because they were nearing a three-hour time limit for work done in protective suits in toxic areas. They passed through one airlock, where they were decontaminated; they passed into a second airlock, where other workers cut them out of the suits. At some point, one of the workers didn’t decontaminate his suit sufficiently, and a mix of caustic solution, trace amounts of agent, and water leaked onto his undergarments, Garrett said. “You’re talking about somebody trying to get out of this suit who has to be just about perfect to make sure they don’t get an extremely minor amount of agent on them,” Garrett said. “It’s an artistic procedure to get out of those suits. We’re asking the guys to be perfect every time, and generally, they are.” Incinerator officials have been reviewing videotapes of the operation over the past few days and say the lessons learned will be shared with the rest of the workers at the incinerator.

About Nathan Solheim

Assistant Metro Editor Nathan Solheim is Minnesota native and a University of Georgia graduate.