Performance Contractors, Inc.: OSHA inspections and violations

Incident on Nov 1, 2011 (fatal): Employee crushed by crane

A crane was placing sections of pipe into jack stands so they could be welded to gether. When Employee #1's coworker finished his work, he needed to go get the w elding machine. The coworker wanted to travel forward to get the welding machine , but there was a truck parked in the way which prevented that maneuver. Therefo re,the coworker decided to go back down the road to the next intersection, which was not far away, to turn the crane around so he could drive forward to the wel ding machine. Although the coworker looked to the back through the doors on both sides of the crane he saw no one. The coworker proceeded to back down the road toward the intersection. Employee #1's coworker felt the left front wheel of the crane roll over something. After the crane had moved further down the road, cow orker saw a flattened hard hat. Employee #1 had been hit and run over by the cra ne, and was dead at the scene.

Incident on May 22, 2011 (fatal): Two employees are killed by toxic gasses in confined space

On May 22, 2011, Employees #1 and #2 were working for Performance Contractors, I nc. (PCI) on two new never-used confined space reactors. The PCI crew was prepar ing the reactors for service and the work was scheduled to be completed the day before, on May 21, 2011. The crew working on the reactors was doing so with a co nfined space permit. The confined space permit utilized by the PCI crew for the uncompleted reactor was returned, however the permit was not filled out properly . It did not indicate that the reactor would require further work on following d ay, and it did not indicate that employees would be entering the confined space the following day. On the morning of May 22, 2011, the PCI crew returned to work and was working primarily on a different reactor. Employee #1, one of the PCI c rew supervisors, realized that he needed a specific allen wrench to perform work , which had been left inside the confined space reactor that had been serviced b ut not completed the day before. Employee #1 returned to the reactor and an atte ndant went with him. Employee #1 did not meter the atmosphere, nor did he verify that it had been metered. Employee #1 entered the confined space, obtained the wrench, and handed it to the attendant. Employee #1 became weakened and fell dow n the entry ladder into the reactor. Employee #1 was killed. Employee #1 was car rying the radio, and the attendant did not have a radio with him, so he began to shout for help. After several minutes, two insulators approached the attendant. The insulators radioed to a different host employer's operations crew in a diff erent unit, who alerted the host employer's operations crew in the unit where th e incident was occurring. Employee #2, a host employer operator, responded. Empl oyee #2 entered the confined space to aid Employee #1. Employee #2 passed out an d was killed. Additional operations crew responded with self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) but they had trouble entering the manway due to the limited sp an of the manway which would not allow the passage of a responder with air bottl es on their back. The responders had to enter the space and have the air bottle handed down. The crew could not lift the dead employees up through the upper man way and had to open a bottom manway which dumped the catalyst out of the reactor along with Employee #2. Employee #1 was lowered down through the bottom manway.

Incident on Mar 19, 2010 (fatal): Employee dies by being rolled over by tractor trailer

On March 19th, 2010, Employee #1 of Performance Contractors, Inc., was performin g duties as a spotter in order to ensure that an 18 wheeler/tractor trailer, dri ven in reverse by Employee #2, was properly guided into the work area to load ex changer components for the Poly "A" unit inside the chemical plant. Employee #3 (driver of escort vehicle in front) looked up and noticed that Employee #1 was f ace down on the ground and alerted Employee #2. Employee #1 had ended up in a po sition where the rear tires of the tractor trailer had rolled over and crushed h is head. Employee #1 was pronounced dead at the scene. Employee #1 was not weari ng a reflective vest and was using hand signals to direct travel of the tractor trailer.

Incident on Apr 23, 2009 (fatal): Employee is killed in fall through floor opening

On April 23, 2009, Employee #1, a pipefitter, was assigned to check a 2-in. spoo l section that was located above the preflash deck in the new crude unit. It had an extension cord wrapped around it, giving the impression that the cord may ha ve been securing the pipe to a vertical support member. Upon accessing the prefl ash deck, Employee #1 stepped away from the ladder. He fell through an open hole in the decking, that was within 2 to 3 ft of the ladder, 40 ft to the ground an d died.

Incident on Mar 1, 1993 (fatal): Employee killed in fall from unguarded platform

At approximately 8:20 a.m. on March 1, 1993, Employee #1, supervisor of the pipe fitters for Performance Contracting, while discussing the next task to be perfor med with a coworker, instructed the coworker to follow him. In an effort to get a better view of breathing air pipes that had just been installed and needed to be leak tested, Employee #1 led the coworker up the steps and over a gate that w as wired shut with 9 gauge wire. They then climbed through scaffold bars that we re wrapped with red danger tape, which were used as a barricade to prevent acces s by the general workforce to the platform under construction. The coworker said that he mentally questioned crossing the barricade because the training that th ey had received strongly stated that one should never cross a danger barricade. But the coworker did not express that thought to his supervisor and followed him . Once they were on the platform, they crawled under two pipes and took a few st eps to look up at the pipes to be tested. The coworker said that he stopped and was looking up the pipes while Employee #1 continued to walk. He then said that he heard a scream, looked in the general direction of the scream, and saw Employ ee #1 falling off the side of the platform while at the same time trying to gras p something to catch himself. The guardrails had not been installed; therefore, there was nothing for Employee #1 to grab. He fell approximately 20 ft to a conc rete floor. Employee #1 suffered lacerations to the head, broken ribs, a punctur ed left lung, and a collapsed right lung. He was taken to the hospital, where he died six days later on March 7, 1993.