A well-respected mechanical engineer that we deal with on occasion reported a recent OSHA issue to us, and we thought it was important enough to pass it along.
A few years ago, there was an explosion at the Hilton Hotel in San Diego caused by natural gas, which injured 14 employees. During the course of investigation, it was discovered that there is a phenomenon that exists whereby the odor that is added to natural gas can be absorbed by the pipe that carries the gas, removing the odor. It was alleged that the cause of the natural gas explosion was the fact that there was no odor alerting people to the existence of a gas leak. While we were told that that matter settled, what alarmed us and the reason for this article is that we are informed that recently a contractor working in the San Diego area was served with an OSHA violation, alleging that the contractor did not provide ample safety devices to protect his employees against this gas odor fade issue. This was an issue that was not even known to exist until the recent litigation came on, but somehow OSHA learned of the problem and issued a Citation. While the issue was resolved or dropped by OSHA, it raises the issue that all contractors should be aware of this gas odor fade phenomenon, and should probably use gas detection devices to determine whether gas is present and should not rely solely on their nose.
