5 Safety Lessons of Fatal Fog Incident

On January 28, 2021, in Gainesville, Georgia, a facility that used liquid nitrogen to quickly freeze prepared poultry food products had a catastrophic incident. The US Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) found that a bent tube in a liquid nitrogen control system was the likely cause of a liquid nitrogen release. The outcome? A deadly cloud that fatally and seriously injured numerous employees and one firefighter.

The US CSB recently released a new video (see below) covering key safety issues and lessons for industry. Which key lesson(s) can help improve safety at your site?

Five Key Lessons for Industry

1. Single Point of Failure

The bent tube noted above was the likely cause of the incident. Processes and equipment handling hazardous chemicals, like liquid nitrogen, should be robust enough to prevent one failure from resulting in a fatal incident. 

2. Atmospheric Monitoring and Alarm Systems

US CSB said, “…employees likely had no idea they were walking into a hazardous atmosphere.”

Facilities that handle hazardous gases or cryogenic asphyxiants like liquid nitrogen must perform proper risk assessments and install atmospheric monitoring and alarm systems based on that risk assessment.

3. Emergency Preparedness

Companies handling hazardous chemicals must train and inform their employees of those hazards. CSB found that many of the company’s employees did not know the site used liquid nitrogen, did not know liquid nitrogen could create a hazardous atmosphere, and did not know how to respond to a release.

4. Process Safety Management Systems

“If [the company] had an effective process safety management system, this incident could have been prevented.”

Any organization that introduces a hazardous chemical into its process must implement process safety management practices to effectively control the risks to keep employees safe, even if that means going beyond what existing regulations require. 

5. Product Stewardship

The seller of a product is often much more knowledgeable about it than the buyer. That is true for hazardous products, too. CSB said the site’s gas supplier had knowledge of the site’s unsafe business practices but continued its business relationship anyway.

This is a reminder that suppliers have a responsibility to discontinue relationships with businesses that use their products irresponsibly and that sites can inquire about a product’s  hazards and how best to handle them.

Lion’s Takeaway

Though the safest sites go beyond what is necessary, meeting regulatory requirements is the place to start. That includes providing adequate training.

Sites that work with hazardous chemicals are required by the OSHA Hazard Communication Standard to inform their employees of those hazards.

Employees that may need to respond to hazardous chemicals in an emergency need training as required by OSHA’s Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response (HAZWOPER) regulations.

The Process Safety Management of Highly Hazardous Chemicals Standard contains requirements for the management of hazards associated with dangerous chemicals and their use in the workplace.

Lion provides online safety & health and HAZWOPER training. Learn more about these training options at Lion.com/OSHA and Lion.com/HAZWOPER.

CSB Video: Fatal Fog