Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, March 23, 1993 TAG: 9303230236
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MARY BISHOP STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
COMPANY HIT BY RECORD FINE FOR 3 DEATHS
A Roanoke company has been fined more than $610,000 by the state and accused of many safety violations in the deaths of three workers who died last year of chemical poisoning while repairing a storage tank in Arlington County.Roanoke Belt Inc. failed to properly train or equip the men to perform the dangerous work, according to charges filed Friday by the state Department of Labor and Industry. The state's findings were made public Monday.
Frank Wayne Johnson, 52, of Salem; Stephen "Cookie" Miller, 39, of Roanoke; and Martin "Boomer" Mroczkowski, 21, of Roanoke died in September from inhaling toluene, an ingredient of the glue they were using to repair the rubber lining of an 18,000-gallon tank. The empty tank was used to store disinfectant at the Arlington County sewage-treatment plant.
The fine against Roanoke Belt was by far the highest ever imposed on a Virginia company as a result of an industrial accident, said Harry Carver, spokesman for the department. The highest previous fine had been $76,000 in the case of Avtex Fibers, a Front Royal rayon fabric maker that was closed in 1989, he said.
Carver said the size of the Roanoke Belt fine was due in part to a raising of fines by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration last year. In July, maximum fines for a single violation increased from $7,000 to $70,000, and the state-run Virginia Occupational Safety and Health Administration was required to match those levels.
Of the 17 violations cited in the tank deaths, 10 were found to be "willful." Of those, eight violations each brought the maximum $70,000 penalty.
Roanoke Belt said Monday that it "vigorously denied" the state's allegations. John Huddle, a lawyer representing the company, said it will contest the charges soon.
Huddle said that the department's six-month investigation did not determine exactly how the accident occurred. Two of the men, Johnson and Miller, were experienced tank workers.
The state's findings were that:
Roanoke Belt did not specifically train the workers on the hazards of working in confined spaces such as storage tanks. Training didn't meet even the minimum requirements of the law.
The men were not wearing respirators at the time they died.
The company did not provide for adequate "respiratory protection" for use in confined spaces. By law, workers must be given respirators designed to work against the particular hazard they face. Respirators must be inspected monthly.
None of the workers made sure that the air inside the tank was safe or, if it wasn't, that workers wore protective gear. Only a house fan was in the tank to ventilate it - not the equipment needed.
No one was stationed outside in case of trouble.
The men had no body harnesses or other retrieval lines to be used to haul them out of the tank. Nor did they have a hoisting device to lift them out.
Huddle said that company policy calls for lookouts to be stationed outside a tank and for tank workers to use respirators. He said respirators that the company issued to the workers were found in a vehicle, not in the tank where they needed them.
Roanoke Belt, with only 10 employees, cannot afford a $600,000 fine, said Huddle. Company President Roger Wickham formed the company in July 1991 when he bought assets from another company, Roanoke Belt and Rubber Co.
Keywords:
FATALITY
Memo: Correction ***CORRECTION***