HOUSTON, Texas — According to a U.S. Department of Labor release a La Porte, Texas tank cleaning company “again chose to disregard federal safety standards that may have protected their employees from hazardous working conditions and prevented another employee from suffering a fatal injury.”
In late December 2023, the wife and son of an employee at the company grew concerned when he didn’t return after his shift. Later that day, he was found unresponsive.
A workplace safety investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration determined the fallen worker’s employer, Qualawash Holdings LLC — operating as Quala Services LLC — failed to ensure that atmospheric testing was done inside the tank before allowing the 53-year-old employee to enter it. The agency cited the company, whose employees clean tankers used to transport hazardous wastes, for eight repeat violations.
OSHA cited Quala Services for the same violations in June 2020 after two workers succumbed while cleaning inside a tanker truck in November 2019.
“Had Quala Services acted responsibly and made the safety reforms as required in 2020, another employee would not have lost their life,” explained OSHA Area Director Larissa Ipsen in Houston. “This employer’s complete disregard for its employees’ safety is unacceptable. Complying with safety and health standards is not optional. OSHA will use all of its tools to ensure employers follow the law.”
In addition to identifying the company’s failure to conduct required testing, OSHA cited the Quala Services for seven serious violations including the following:
1. Failing to implement measures to prevent unauthorized entry into a permit-required confined space.
2. Not providing an attendant while employees entered permit-required confined spaces.
3. Numerous failures related to the confined space entry permit, including:
- Not identifying the authorized duration of entry.
- Which rescue and emergency services to be summoned.
- How to summon emergency services.
- Failing to specify personal protective, rescue and communications equipment and alarm systems.
4. Overexposing employees to carbon monoxide.
5. Not protecting conductors that entered an electrical panel box from abrasions and leaving an electrical outlet without a cover plate.
The company faces up to $810,703 in proposed penalties for its alleged violations.
The La Porte-based company cleans tanker trailers used to transport hazardous waste and has more than 1,400 employees.
The company has 15 business days from receipt of its citations and penalties to comply, request an informal conference with OSHA’s area director, or contest the findings before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.
The case is another example tjat U.S. government agencies are cracking down on environmental rule breakers.
In July of this year the Environmental Protection Agency announced a settlement with Hi-Noon Petroleum Inc. resolving alleged Clean Water Act (CWA) violations involving a gasoline discharge into Grayling Creek in Yellowstone National Park (YNP), Wyoming, according to a release issued last month.
EPA alleged that Hi-Noon violated the CWA with a discharge of 4,800 gallons of gasoline into Grayling Creek on August 19, 2022. The company has agreed to pay $20,000 and complete a $45,000 supplemental environmental project (SEP) to resolve the alleged violations. The SEP requires Hi-Noon to donate $45,000 worth of spill emergency response equipment and training to the Hebgen Basin Fire District in West Yellowstone, Montana, which responded to the spill.
“EPA’s settlement with Hi-Noon underscores our commitment to holding polluters accountable, especially within our national parks,” said EPA Regional Administrator KC Becker. “This response will help ensure that visitors continue to safely enjoy Yellowstone long into the future.”
The discharge resulted from an accident involving a Hi-Noon gasoline tanker truck on U.S. Highway 191 within the boundaries of the national park. Gasoline flowed off the road and into adjacent wetlands and followed the wetland channel to Grayling Creek, a tributary to the Madison River.
The spill was reported to the YNP dispatch, the National Response Center, the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality and the Montana Department of Environmental Quality. Hi-Noon’s contractor worked with an EPA on-scene coordinator on soil removal and product recovery activities.
In April of this year, the EPA’s San Franciso office announced via press release a proposed settlement with Shasta-Siskiyou Transport of Redding, Calif. to resolve claims of Clean Water Act (CWA) violations after one of the company’s trucks overturned and a fuel product spilled into storm drains in downtown Redding. The fuel reached the Sacramento River. The proposed settlement requires Shasta-Siskiyou Transport to pay a civil penalty of $208,840.
“Fuel products can cause severe harm to our waters, wildlife and ecosystems, so it’s imperative that they be transported in a safe manner,” said EPA Pacific Southwest Regional Administrator Martha Guzman. “This proposed settlement shows EPA’s commitment to holding accountable entities that pollute waterways in the San Francisco Bay watershed.”
On Jan. 21, 2022, one of Shasta-Siskiyou Transport’s trucks was transporting transmix, a mixture of gasoline, diesel fuel, and other petroleum distillates, when the truck overturned in downtown Redding, releasing transmix into nearby storm drains, which led directly to Calaboose Creek and subsequently into the Sacramento River. The Sacramento River flows into the San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean, and EPA alleges that Shasta-Siskiyou Transport’s truck released transmix in such quantities that may be harmful.
The proposed settlement is subject to public notice and comment.
Bruce Guthrie is an award-winning journalist who has lived in three states including Arkansas, Missouri and Georgia. During his nearly 20-year career, Bruce has served as managing editor and sports editor for numerous publications. He and his wife, Dana, who is also a journalist, are based in Carrollton, Georgia.
