Union Carbide to Pay OSHA Fine
Union Carbide Chemicals & Plastics Co. has agreed to pay a $1.5-million fine and provide a series of workplace safety procedures at its ethylene oxide production plants in Texas, federal officials said.
Dorothy L. Strunk, acting assistant secretary of labor and administrator of the Occupation Safety and Health Administration, said Union Carbide agreed to the fine and workshops as settlement of citations issued against the company after a March, 1991, fire and explosion at the Texas plant.
“We are pleased the company will institute safety procedures to better protect its employees not only at its Seadrift plant, but at its Taft, La., plant,” Strunk said.
The two plants employ about 2,800 workers and include all of Union Carbide’s ethylene oxide production facilities.
Ethylene oxide is highly reactive and widely used as an intermediate in the production of numerous industrial and household products.
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