Business World

Sometimes a safety issue literally blows up in the face of federal regulators. That was the case last month when an explosion and fire at an Imperial Sugar Co. refinery in Port Wentworth, Ga., likely caused by the ignition of sugar dust, killed 13 workers and left 10 others with serious burns.

The accident on Feb. 7 was the latest of some 300 since 1980 that have killed more than 100 workers and injured 800. The Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration ignored a recommendation to create a single dust-control rule, saying it already has 17 regulations warning employers about deadly dust buildups.

An oversight hearing on the subject on March 12 shows how the Democratic-controlled Congress has grown weary of President George W. Bush’s approach to regulatory policy, which stresses partnerships with industry and voluntary efforts to keep workplaces safe.

"I see such an incredible lack of urgency on the part of your agency to protect workers," Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., who heads the House Education and Labor Committee, told OSHA director Edwin Foulke Jr.
"We believe the agency has taken strong measures to prevent combustible dust hazards," Foulke responded. The agency created a Web page with guidance material on combustible dust, he told the committee.

The agency also has sent letters alerting 30,000 employers of their responsibilities to prevent dust buildup. And OSHA is inspecting 300 facilities across the nation for compliance.

"You are clinging to what you have done, and it’s … incredibly ineffective," Miller said.

Dust explosions occur when accumulations of fine particles build up and ignite from a spark or some other heat source. Combustible dust is prevalent in many industries, including chemical, pharmaceutical and recycling operations.

OSHA insists that the current set of 17 rules, which cover housekeeping, emergency plans, ventilation and other issues, can prevent the explosions payday advances.

Members of the committee, especially the Democrats, pointed out that in 2003 three dust-related blasts took 14 lives. The companies involved paid a total of $170,000 in fines. One facility closed and the other two had to be rebuilt.

In 2006, the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board, an independent agency, urged OSHA to issue a single rule to address control of the dust, assessment of the hazard and worker training.

"The Chemical Safety Board has concluded that combustible dust explosions are a serious hazard in American industry, and that existing efforts inadequately address this hazard."

William Wright, interim executive of the board, said at the hearing that since OSHA set a grain dust standard in 1987 the agency estimates deaths and injuries from such explosions have dropped 60 percent.

Miller and Rep. Lynn Woolsey, D-Calif., who heads the workplace protections subcommittee, wrote to Labor Secretary Elaine Chao the day after the sugar refinery explosion, asking her to make issuing a standard a "high priority." They have yet to receive an answer.

Miller and Rep. John Barrow, D-Ga., introduced legislation to force OSHA to issue a rule regulating industrial dusts.

Foulke, meanwhile, said that his agency would address any need for a new rule after the sugar refinery investigation is complete and OSHA has finished reviewing other facilities.

He said American workplaces generally are safer than ever.

CINDY SKRZYCKI IS A BLOOMBERG NEWS COLUMNIST.

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