The Department of Energy Office of Enforcement has issued a final notice of violation to Bechtel National for a Nov. 4, 2016, industrial accident at the Hanford Site in Washington state.
A worker sustained broken vertebrae and cuts to the head when a 12-inch pipe unexpectedly separated at a joint and sprayed a pressurized stream of water. The accident occurred as preparations were being made for pressure testing a piping system for cooling water at the Waste Treatment Plant being built by Bechtel.
The Office of Enforcement revised some wording in the preliminary notice of violation issued April 25 based on concerns raised by Bechtel. But it did not change its overall finding of three Severity Level I violations: one each for management responsibilities, hazard identification and assessment, and hazard identification and abatement. Bechtel’s record-keeping and training and information shortcomings were found to be a less serious Level II violation.
No fine or other penalty were proposed in the preliminary notice of violation or issued in the final notice of violation dated Sept. 12. The Office of Enforcement noted that DOE’s Office of River Protection at Hanford already had docked Bechtel’s fee for 2016 by nearly $560,000 for safety shortcomings, which included the injury incident.
In its response to the preliminary notice of violation, Bechtel said it did not exceed the maximum allowable pressure for the plant cooling water system based on a review of previous pressure tests and the pipe design pressure. The Office of Enforcement concurred that the pressures did not exceed the pressure for which the pipe was designed. But it said the American Water Works Association standard has other restrictions for maximum pressure during testing and questioned whether Bechtel established adequate controls. It rewrote parts of the notice of violation dealing with maximum allowable pressure in response to Bechtel’s concerns.
