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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMINUTES - 10061987 - I.O.2 to: BOARD OF SUPERVISORS FROM INTERNAL OPERATIONS COMMITTEECwtra ,/�,��;#},�, September . 28, 1987 CWLGI DATE-: ( J�` 'Status Report on Alleged Safety SUBJECT: violations . at USS-POSCO SPECIFIC REQUEST(S) OR RECOMMENDATIONS) & BACKGROUND AND JUSTIFICATION ' f RECOMMENDATIONS: 1. Request, the Health Services Director and ' County Counsel toi report to ' our, Committee . on ' October 26; 1987 on current; requirements for industry to report. hazardousa materials/hazardous waste spills to County agencies. Where! the .Health Services. Director judges - these reporting requirements inadequate, propose additional reporting; requirements which the County could consider imposing, or' identify" State legislation that would be required , in orderti to allow. the- County . to impose reporting requirements which; are judged adequate. r . 2. Request the Health Services Director to send 'aletter to appropriate industries in Contra Costa County reminding theml of their responsibility to report hazardous' materials/hazardous waste incidents to County agencies. 3 . Request the Health Services Director to consider the feasibility 'of. asking appropriate industries in the County to agree to post a notice, accessible to their _employees telling them of the " employee Is right. to report an alleged! incident involving hazardous . materials/hazardous waste, directly to the Environmental Health Division' of the Health! Services Department. I 4. Request the. Health Services Director to ask USS-POSCO tor' respond to the -County Is . report on asbestos removal at the; USS-POSCO -plant at. our Committee meeting on ., October 26, 1987 . j I - 5. Request the Health Services Director to report . to our; Committee on October 26, 1987 on the content of the U. S., Coast Guard report on the alleged . acd spill "at USS-POSCO- this past summer, along with any additional data the Health' Services Department has been .-able to gather by that date on this incident. CONTINUED ON ATTACHMENT; X YES SIGNATURE;' ' _y RECOMMENDATION OF COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR. X RECOMMENDATION OF BOARD COMMITTEE APPROVE OTHER, SIGNATURE S : fancy Fanden np Tom Torlakson ACT FON OF BOARD ON ___)ctabe-r. 6, '707 APPROVED AS RECOMMFNDED " OTHER ' VOTE OF SUPERVISORS' . I HEREBY CERTIFY THAT THIS 1S A TRUE. ` UNANIMOUS (ABSENT AND CORRECT COPY OF AN ACTION TAKEN AYES: NOES: AND ENTERED ON THE MINUTES OF THE BOARD ABSENT: ABSTAIN: OF SUPERVISORS ON THE DATE SHOWN. i .. cc: Listed on Page Z ATTESTED - /�,' J_I;O_._1.77 PHIL BATCHELOR, CLERK OF THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS'.AND COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR BY DEPU M382/7-83 TY t i Page:.2 6., ` Request �the' County Administrator to. schedule aa�`meeting( with USS-POSCO,. Supervisor Torlakson ,and appropriate staff.. from , the Buildng .Inspection Department to discuss- in more detail the requirements and standards for welding inspections BACKGROUND: _ f on - September 1, 1987; the Board . approved a number of follow-up recommendations from our Committee relating to • alleged safety violations at- USS-POSCO involving acid spills . and asbestos removal. x Our Committee '.met with staff from the Health Services Department, Building Inspection Department, representatives from - USS-POSCO ,' and several labor' organizations on September 28. We- reviewed the attached - report fromBruce Benike, Occupational Health Specialist, and the . attached report from Fred Fung, Senior Structural Engineer, for the 'Building Inspection Department.. The report from Mr. Benike indicates that there. is.,no evidence to support '.the ` contention that. the . Carquinez Straits were contaminated with any pickle, liquor which may have been released on June 24, 1987 . Health Services 'has not, however, received a copy of .the..report made by the Coast Guard. of, their': investigatign, of this incident. We would like a further report after they have received this report.' - The report on asbestos removal - likewise indicates %'no evidence of any hazard to employees at USS-POSCO. We had also raised. questions with' Building Inspection regarding' inspection standards for welds at the USS-POSCO plant. The report from Mr. Fung notes that they have insisted that USS-POSCO . replace their uncertified -welding inspector,. with an inspector certified by the American Welding Society. Mr Fung orally reported that only visual inspections are required. Supervisor Torlakson asked : that . a meeting be scheduled . to ; continue this discussion separate from our Committee' s "deliberations. In response . to a request from our. Committee 'that, USB-POSCO. reconcile apparently conflicting statements regarding the employment levels' at USS-POSCO following completion'. -ofthe current modernization project, John Gibson'- from USS-POSCO- .noted that USS-POSCO believes their post .modernization employment levels will be approximately. the same as, they, were before the moderniza:tion. , Steve Roberti noted ' that this 'was a change of, position on the part of USS-POSCO from what they were ledto believe in a meeting with USS-POSCO last March.. Our Committee ' believes further . investigation of !many. of these issues is warranted, . and we : have, therefore, made the above recommendations.' cc:: County. Administrator Fred Fung, Bldg 'Inspection Health `Ser.vices Director John Gibson, USS-POSCO Dan .Bergman,, Env. Health. County Counsel Building" Inspector Steve 'Roberti,.',Central Labor .Council. t CONTRA COSTA COUNTY HEALTH SERVICES DEPARTMENT ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH DIVISION Contra COSta;C®U ►+`� RECEIVED OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH/HAZARDOUS MATERIALS �- SEP 16 1987, Office of County Adminigtrater TO: Dan Bergman Assistant Health Services Director/Environmental Health FROM: Bruce Benike Occupational Health Specialist' SUBJECT: USS-POSCO DATE: August 21 , 1987 In response to a _request for .investigation of certain allegations contained in the report from Supervisor Torlakson submitted ion July 28 , 1987 to the Board of Supervisors, alleging possible health and safety violations at USS-POSCO, the following information was obtained:. Asbestos Exposure i At the time of my inspection there did not appear to ibe significant asbestos exposure risk to workers on the picket line. There was a small amount of loose fire-damaged asbestos coating material remaining on the roof panels 50-60 feet above the line; which I recommended be encapsulated or removed, but no material was noted on the floor. The Airborne Asbestos Sampling Report prepared by Med-Tox Associates for USS-POSCO appears to evaluate adequately employee exposure in the building, and indicates present exposure `is minimal. However, future .repairs to the roof, will require appropriate measures to protect the occupants of the buildingas well as the workers making the repairs. I was able to obtain little information about the methods used by the company which performed previous. roof repairs, or exposure, levels within the building at that time. Acid Releases Investigation of the alleged 'acid apills indicated the following: ( 1) The U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) did not find any evidence that pickling liquor (ferric chloride and hydrochloric acid) had been released into the river. `They did. however, note some red colored water , dicharging from the system on June 24 , 1987 . One incident was a leak of pickling liquor from' a 1 , OH-9 d tank; this- leak was contained on site and removed by USS- POSCO. The other incident occurred within the wastewater treatment system and appears not to have -resulted in , a release to the river. (This information was obtained from USCG staff who responded to both incidents) ( 2 ) Lila Tang of the RWQCB inspected the facility, the day after the complaint was filed (June 24 ) and found no abnormal conditions. Continuous monitoring equipment did not indicate any change in pH. Mike Drennan, Sr. Engineer 'of the Regional Board, is continuing the investigation, interviewing all parties who responded to the spill. There is presently litle or no evidence that a serious acid spill occurred on June 24. CCHSD staff is continuing to investigate and will coordinate with the the Regional Board in further investigative activities. BB:bf I I 7 I USS-POSCO f f i I 2 ASSOCIATES. MC " ( JOB NO. 1048.8 - REPORT-"OF.. AIRBORNE .ASBESTOS SAMPLING- AT - j USS-POSCO INDUSTRIES . LOVERIDGE ROAD PITTSBURG, '. CA. " 94565:. July 20, 19.87 i i i Prepared by: 1 MEb-TOX ASSOCIATES, INC. 3440 VINCENT- ROAD PLEASANT HILL, CA 94523 (415) 930-9090 JLily. 28, .1987 s ED® 'ASSOC I'A TE S. INC. REPORT OF AIRBORNE` ASBESTOS" SAMPLING ." } AT USS-POSCO INDUSTRIES. LOVERIDGE ROAD PITTSBURG, ..CA 94565 . i INTRODUCTION MED-TOX Associates, Inc. (MED-TOX) wasretained by" USS-POSCO Industries to '. conductsampling for airborne asbestos at two locations within -their facility. Sampling 'Date.:.. July 20 , ".1987 Sampling Personnel: Lisa. Burkard, Industrial Hygienist Sampling Locations: Cold " Reduction Storage, 66" and i54" pickling lines; KAW CAL Line Bay I SAMPLING AND ANALYTICAL METHODOLOGIES C Airborne asbestos samples are collected by ' drawing . air at a . flowrate of 8 liters per minute (LPM) through a three-piece open face conductive cassette containing a, 25 mm0 . 8 um mixed cellulose ester filter (Nuclepore ABC) . Samples were analyzed at MED-TOX utilizing Phase Contrast Microscopy (PCM) at 40OX magnification according °'to NIOSH method 7400 , Fibers, "A" counting rules. The NIOSH 7400 method doesjnot allow for differentiation of fibers based on morphology. . Sample results reflect all visible fibers greater than 5 microns in length with an aspect ratio of at least . three to . one, including non-asbestos fiber.- RESULTS iber.RESULTS All results are attached as Table I. Samples LB0720-5 and LB0720-7 collected in the Cold Reduction ` Storage Area are being analyzed for asbestos " fibers ' by Transmission Electron Microscopy at' , request of .USS POSCO._ Results. of. these analyses will be attached in'"an. addendum to this report. I AA tDmTox . - - ASSOCIATES. INC. This report prepared by: Lisa E. Burkard Industrial Hygienist Reviewed and approved by:. Anne C. Harringto CIH .Industrial Hygie7ej Manager R23-P4 r' 1. E®-Tox ASSOCIATES, INC. TABLE I A1R. MONITOP.ING SUMMARY PHASE CONTRAST MICROSCOPY NIOSH 74004 USS-POSCO. P.O.: BOX 471. .. PITTSBURGH CALIFORNIA JOB NO. 10488 DATE: 7/20/87 LOCATION: KAM/CAL Line Bay. SAMPLING TIME VOLUME. FIBERS/cc AREA., FIELD ID. START :STOP, (L) COMMENTS/ACTIVITY 05 um) Column F75 AB072071 090B.. .1043 768 0.01.. Column F67 LB0720-2 0914 1046 .731 <0:01 Column F55 LB0720-3 0920 1049 . 734 <0.01 Column 664L..B0720-4 . _ 0925 1052 696 <0.01 Column F75 LB0720-9 1043 1211 717 0.01 Column F67 - LB0720-10-: '1100 1207 529 0.01 Column F55 LB0720-11 1050 1204 607 (0.01 Column 664 LB0720-12 1052 1207 578 <0.01 LOCATION: Cold Reduction Storage SAMPLING TIME VOLUME FIBERS/cc AREA FIELD ID. START STOP (L) COMMENTS/ACTIVITY 05 um) 66' Pickling Line LB0720-5 0959 1222 1091 Adjacent.to Lunch 0.01 Exit End Room .54' Pickling Line LB0720-6 1009 -- -- Outside Lunch Room VOID' Exit.End 66' Pickling Line LE0720-7 1014 1234 966 0.01 Pickle Feeder Station 66' Pickling.'Line: LB0720-8 -1017' 1237 1064 20.01 Welder Station 1Sampling pump found unplugged AM23-M41 I Tb - I I I I I i I I I AA I K---M CAL in i CONTRA COSTA COUNTY BUILDING INSPECTION DEPARTMENT Inter - Office Memo TO: Internal Operations Committee FROM: Fred Fung, Senior Structural Engineer SUBJECT: USS-POSCO Welding Inspection DATE : September 28 , 1987 For a period of approximately 3 weeks starting late July, 1987 , the welding in the USS-POSCO project was inspected by an owner's inspector who is not certifed by the American Welding Society (AWS) . Our field inspector, Ed Hokinson , requested that the uncertified inspector be replaced by one who is certifed by AWS and that all welding inspected by the uncertified inspector be reinspected. The uncertified inspector was replaced by an AWS , certified inspector. The reinspection of welding has begun but not yet completed . There is no State or local laws requiring that welding inspector be AWS certified in a project such as USS-POSCO. However, the 1979 Uniform Building Code (URC) gives the Building Inspection Department the authority to accept or reject a welding inspector.. We require AWS certified inspectors as a matter of policy. The standards of welding inpection, whether an AWS inspector is used or not, have to conform to UBC Standard No. 27-6 . The Standard covers inspection items such as cracks , fusion, profile and porosity.