This article has been email to me about 179 times today so I guess you guys want me to post it.
Frac Tech has agreed to pay $450,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by a transport driver who claimed she could not find any working safety showers after suffering chemical burns at Frac Tech’s Aledo facility in Texas, according to a statement released November 16 by the woman’s attorney. Frac Tech Services provides hydraulic fracturing services to gas-well drilling sites, using pressurized rigs to shoot so-called “fracking fluid” into casings deep underground in efforts to fracture rock formations and free natural gas. According to the statement, the woman, a worker for – 2 – L&B Transport, was unloading hydrochloric acid in February 2008 when a hose fitting came loose, spraying the acid onto her face and body. The victim alleged that of the two safety showers in the Aledo facility, “one was not working properly and that the second was locked and not accessible,” according to the attorney’s statement, which notes that the woman suffered serious chemical burns to her face, chest, and abdomen.
LINK FIXED – Source: http://www.reporternews.com/news/2011/nov/16/woman-alleging-no-working-safety-showers-at-frac/
This is not the first time and it won’t be the last. I have talked with three people who worked for trucking companies that hauled fracking chemicals or hydraulic fracturing chemicals. Two of the people worked for the same company. All three told me that their companies did not provide any kind of protective gear. Yet they forced workers to go inside the tanks on their trucks and clean them out after hauling fracking chemicals or flowback. One woman suffered from a chronic cough. The others witnessed coworkers who suffered horrible chemical burns that even penetrated through their leather boots.
This is not new news folks. Fracking chemicals are deadly.
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Sharon Wilson is considered a leading citizen expert on the impacts of shale oil and gas extraction. She is the go-to person whether it’s top EPA officials from D.C., national and international news networks, or residents facing the shock of eminent domain and the devastating environmental effects of natural gas development in their backyards.
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What kind of Bozos run that operation? I’ve been at plenty of companies that test their safety showers often, they take that safety precaution VERY seriously. Maybe that settlement is too small to get companies to change their safety conduct.
I hope OSHA puts a padlock on this place, for if this is how they deal with employee safety, what do they think of protecting the public?
Also, that link is broken.
Not Bozos. Criminals.
But hydrochloric acid is going to burn the hell out of you shower or no.
I’ve also worked at semiconductor manufacturing places, where you were REQUIRED to wear FULL personal protective equipment (PPE) around acids, ESPECIALLY if they are used in a pressurized delivery system. If you’re caught working around acid without the right PPE, many places will fire you on the spot. Managers knew they were on the hook for employee safety in this regard.