Jeremy L. Dillon
RW Monitor
3/13/2015
The Tennessee Division of Occupational Safety and Health (TOSHA) has fined EnergySolutions $6,450 for violations related to the worker fatality at its Erwin facility, according to a March 2 report released this week. The report determined that EnergySolutions committed two “serious” violations related to the Oct. 14 death. “It was determined that Erwin ResinSolutions was insufficient in guarding the floor hole into which an employee could accidentally walk,” the report said. “Although they had a company policy on fall protection and provided fall protection equipment, it was determined that the company did not adequately communicate the standard to their employees. In addition, the company did not provide periodic inspections to ensure that the company policy was being followed.”
An EnergySolutions worker died in October after suffering a fall of approximately 25 feet at the company’s Erwin facility. Following the accident, EnergySolutions suspended operations so it could conduct an internal investigation into the cause of the death. The company concluded, along with TOSHA, that it could safely restart the facility and resume operations under EnergySolutions management in January. According to EnergySolutions spokesman Mark Walker, the company has been working with TOSHA to take corrective actions. “We received notification today from TOSHA of its findings regarding the Erwin accident,” Walker said this week. “Throughout the investigation we have worked closely with TOSHA and have already implemented all required corrective actions. We will work with TOSHA over the next twenty days to finalize this matter.”
The worker in the incident was identified as Gary Reedy, 51. Walker said in October that Reedy had been employed at the facility for “a couple of years.” Walker also emphasized that the worker’s death was not tied to radioactive material at the facility, which EnergySolutions bought from Studsvik in 2014. The Erwin Facility leverages EnergySolutions’ THOR process that safely dewaters, chemically reforms, homogenizes and reduces the volume of spent ion-exchange resins into a solid-phase, stable waste form, according to the company’s website.
