Veterans’ Healthcare Facility in Arizona Exposed Employees to Potentially Deadly Hazards
A U.S. Department of Labor investigation of an Arizona Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) healthcare facility found workers had been put at risk by exposing them to potentially deadly hazards on steam lines. Employees were allowed to work on the steam lines without ensuring they followed the required safety procedures.
Federal agencies such as the VA are required to comply with the same safety and health standards as private sector employers that are covered by the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act and must ensure that employees conduct their work duties safely and are not exposed to grave danger from hazards.
Federal safety inspectors visited the VA’s Prescott facility, operated by the Northern Arizona Veterans Affairs Health Care System, in October 2022 to assess compliance and determined that the facility lacked energy-isolating procedures known as lockout/tagout, which prevents the release of hazardous energy during the maintenance and servicing of steam lines. Employees were found to be using ad-hoc methods that did not meet Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requirements. The inspectors also determined that the facility had failed to train workers on required safety procedures, thus exposing them to potentially fatal risks.
This is not the first time that a VA facility has failed to ensure proper procedures were followed when working on steam lines. Two years previously, an accident in the workplace at a Veterans Affairs Healthcare System facility in West Haven, CT, ended in tragedy. Two workers lost their lives after suffering fatal burns when working on steam lines. OSHA inspectors found similar failures to ensure safety procedures were followed.
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OSHA inspectors determined there had been one willful violation and two repeated violations of health and safety regulations at the Prescott facility and issued three serious notices for exposing employees to burns and potentially fatal injuries. “Federal law requires all employers, public or private, to provide a safe workplace. Management at all Veterans Affairs facilities should review their employee safety and health programs to ensure they comply with industry and OSHA standards for isolating hazardous energy before another tragedy occurs,” said OSHA Area Director T. Zachary Barnett.
The VA has 15 days from receipt of the notices to comply, request a conference with the OSHA area director, or appeal the notices. Private sector companies would be liable to pay financial penalties of up to $315,875 for the violations.
