OSHA cites Salem power plant owners for fatal explosion
(Robert Spencer for The Boston Globe)
A Salem police officer stood guard at the gate of the Salem Harbor Power Station in November after a boiler tube ruptured.
By Globe Staff
The owners of a Salem power plant are facing federal citations for alleged safety violations after a steam explosion last year that killed three workers.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration said today that Dominion Energy New England had failed to take effective steps at the Salem Harbor Power Station to protect employees from hazards from ruptured or leaking boiler tubes and piping.
The federal workplace safety agency also said the area where the plant's boiler tubes ruptured had not been entered or inspected in more than nine years.
"The company must initiate and maintain effective safeguards to identify and eliminate such hazards, both to protect its employees, and to prevent future leaks, ruptures, or explosions," Rosemarie Ohar, OSHA's acting area director in Methuen, said in a statement. "Proper inspection and maintenance are critical to detecting potentially dangerous conditions."
The agency said it was issuing a total of 10 citations for serious violations to Dominion Energy New England carrying a total of $46,800 in proposed fines. The company has 15 business days from receipt of the citations to meet with OSHA or contest the citations and fines.
A spokesman for Dominion Energy didn't immediately return a telephone message seeking comment.
Engineer Phillip Robinson, mechanic Mark Mansfield, and rookie Mathew Indeglia, were killed in the Nov. 6, 2007, explosion when they were enveloped in a cloud of steam that approached 600 degrees.
The plant, which is more than 50 years old, recently started to power up again, following months of work by Salem Harbor employees, investigators, and cleaning crews to inspect the plant's machinery and clean up fly ash and a small amount of asbestos left from the accident.
The Essex County district attorney's office is also investigating the accident.
