Editor:
R.M. Palmer Co. is a venerable institution employing hundreds of our neighbors and producing foods that make us happy. However, when the Occupational Safety and Health Administration determines fault, it does not need to know the source of the explosion but rather the company’s response to employees’ reports of smelling natural gas.
OSHA requires that “Each employer — shall furnish to each of his employees employment and a place of employment which are free from recognized hazards that are causing or are likely to cause death or serious physical harm to his employees.” If an employee reports a gas odor to a company representative then it becomes a recognized hazard. Would we not want our own employer to ensure as much?
OSHA requires companies to develop “procedures for reporting a fire or other emergency,” and to train employees in those procedures as soon as they are employed.
Since OSHA cannot know every potential emergency that can occur at any given business, they leave it to each business to make a thorough assessment of the risks.
One might anticipate flood risks, weather events, bomb threats or an active shooter event. A natural gas emergency, in this case, would be a reasonably anticipated risk.
Leave it to the National Transportation Safety Board to determine the source of the gas leak, but a company that does not evacuate a building when there is a report of smelling gas until the source is identified has not fulfilled its duties to its employees.
Stan Dalton
Exeter Township
Source: Berkshire mont