Cal/OSHA Cites Company $838K for Exposing Employees to Toxic Chemical
Cal/OSHA issued 18 citations to Parter Medical Products Inc. for reportedly failing to protect its employees from overexposure to ethylene oxide, a toxic chemical.
The penalties total $838,800. Six of the citations were for willful-serious violations. A willful violation is issued when evidence shows that the employer committed an intentional and knowing violation.
Parter Medical Products, dba Parter Sterilization Services, uses ethylene oxide gas to sterilize medical devices. Chronic exposure to ethylene oxide is associated with cancer, reproductive effects and neurotoxicity. Its odor is undetectable to humans until the concentration exceeds hazardous levels, according to Cal/OSHA.
Cal/OSHA’s Process Safety Management unit opened an inspection at the Parter facility in Carson on Aug. 5. The unit is responsible for inspecting refineries and chemical plants that handle large quantities of toxic and flammable materials. PSM’s inspection followed an investigation by South Coast Air Quality Management District, which referred the matter to Cal/OSHA.
Parter shut down its facility in August 2022 for several months while it made modifications to reduce outdoor ethylene oxide emissions. However, Parter’s remediation efforts reportedly did not solve the employee-exposure issues indoors.
When Cal/OSHA resumed its inspection in December 2022, it reportedly found that one employee was overexposed to ethylene oxide his entire shift. Under Cal/OSHA regulations, the permissible exposure limit for eight hours is no more than 1 ppm (parts per million). The employee’s exposure averaged 5 ppm during the shift and averaged 9 ppm during a three-and-a-half-hour period. Tests show Parter employees were exposed to ethylene oxide above the permissible limit from 2019 until 2022, according to Cal/OSHA.
Cal/OSHA’s citations include violations for failure to have an effective safety plan to evaluate and develop controls for hazards, failure to develop a respiratory protection plan, failure to monitor employee exposure and failure to notify workers of exposure over the permissible limit.
The California Division of Occupational Safety and Health, or Cal/OSHA, is a division with the Department of Industrial Relations charged with protecting workers from health and safety hazards on the job.