Depot cited for safety violations

EMERGENCY ACTION PLAN IS INADEQUATE

By Peter Mathews

CENTRAL KENTUCKY BUREAU

RICHMOND - The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited Blue Grass Army Depot for what it calls serious violations of safety procedures for its employees.

The Notice of Unsafe or Unhealthful Working Conditions was filed Wednesday. It says the violations could expose the depot's employees to possible injury, illness and death.

The four violations involve the depot's emergency response, emergency action and emergency evacuation plans. After an inspection conducted Dec. 1 and 2, OSHA concluded that:

The emergency response plan did not address personnel roles, lines of authority, training and communication.

No appreciable effort was made to conduct required training or exercises/drills for all employees on site.

The depot had failed to designate escape routes or develop a procedure to account for all employees in its emergency evacuation plan, and did not review the plan with employees whose job responsibilities had changed.

The depot did not maintain a written emergency action plan. Employees did not know one existed and were not notified when changes were made to it.

The depot has until April 11 to correct the conditions, but spokes-man Dave Easter said the depot has already told OSHA it cannot make the deadline.

The problem, Easter said, is that the depot is not a traditional business with employees under one roof. The roughly 1,200 employees are spread around the 14,600-acre installation.

Emergency planning begins with the 523-ton stockpile of chemical weapons, Easter said. Evacuations during a chemical leak would be based on weather conditions, which are monitored and broadcast daily. It's unlikely that everyone would have to be evacuated.

But OSHA requires that an evacuation plan be in place for all employees.

"They're right," Easter said. "If their standard is a complete evacuation, no, we haven't done it."

Depot officials have asked for an informal conference to discuss the problems, and OSHA has been receptive to that, he said.

The depot is not subject to fines for the violations because it is a federal agency, not a company, said Benjamin Ross, assistant regional administrator in OSHA's Atlanta office.

Reach Peter Mathews in the Richmond bureau at (859) 626-5878 or pmathews@herald-leader.com.