NEW OSHA RULES TARGET EXPLOSIONS

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, February 15, 1992                   TAG: 9202150052
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium
NEW OSHA RULES TARGET EXPLOSIONS
Employers in the petrochemical industry will be required to analyze job hazards and develop ways to guard against explosions and other catastrophes under government safety rules issued Friday.
The regulations, written by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, are designed to prevent the type of fatal plant explosions that have hit the industry in recent years.
More than 3 million workers at nearly 25,000 job sites in the United States will be covered by the new OSHA standard, the Labor Department estimated.
The new regulations could prevent some 250 job-related deaths a year and another 1,500 injuries and illnesses, the agency estimated.
Under the rules, companies will have to undertake a "process hazard analysis," or a systematic review of what could go wrong and what safeguards should be implemented to prevent release of hazardous chemicals.
The standard also requires employee participation in safety programs, written operating procedures, employee training, maintenance of critical equipment, emergency action plans and compliance audits at least every three years.
Many of the procedures are standard safety precautions that companies already take; making them OSHA regulations puts the teeth of federal law behind them.
Mainly, the standard covers workers in industries where chemicals, transportation equipment and fabricated metal products are made.
Other industries affected include natural gas liquids; farm product warehousing; electric, gas and sanitary services and wholesale trade, the Labor Department said.
OSHA estimates that the rules will cost companies about $889 million a year for each of the first five years and that the compliance cost would drop during the second five years to $406 million a year.
The costs would largely be offset by projected annual savings from accident prevention and increases in productivity, OSHA said.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB