Nippon Dynawave Faces $77,800 in Fines After Worker Falls into Hot Pulp Sinkhole
Nippon Dynawave Packaging Co. faces $77,800 in fines after an employee nearly became engulfed in hot pulp while attempting to shut off a valve at the company’s Longview, Washington mill.
The Washington State Department of Labor & Industries cited the company for failing to protect workers from exposure to hot material and engulfment hazards, and for failing to include its paper machine pulp system in a hazardous materials piping safety program.
The incident occurred when a tank valve was unintentionally left open in April causing pulp heated to 145 degrees to spill. The accumulating pulp to 3 feet in depth, covering a 4-foot-deep sinkhole that had formed in the asphalt below.
After the employee waded through the pulp and climbed onto piping to close the valve, he fell into the sinkhole on the way down. According to inspectors, he avoided being completely engulfed in more than 7 feet of pulp by grabbing a pipe, and eventually caught his foot on the side of the sinkhole and climbed out.
Reports state that pulp flowed through the open valve for about two hours. Paper machine managers told inspectors spills occur once every couple of months and sometimes more frequently, and that they were aware that workers had waded through pulp to open and close tank valves, according to L&I.
Since the incident, management has agreed to instruct workers not to enter pulp spill areas and to develop procedures and engineering controls for closing valves without exposing employees to the material.
Nippon Dynawave has 15 days from the issuance of the citation to appeal.
This is the second of two investigations that were open before a separate May 26 tank failure at the mill. In August, L&I fined Nippon Dynawave $2,890 for failing to maintain required inspection records and a formal maintenance program for an ammonia tank used to treat wastewater. That investigation began in March after a worker reported a broken valve handle on the tank.
Neither investigation is related to the fatal rupture, where a tank failure killed 11 workers, and spilled hundreds of thousands of gallons of chemicals, believed to be the deadliest industrial accident in state history.
Following the fatal rupture, Washington regulators also opened inspections at two other kraft pulp and paper mills: Smurfit Westrock in Longview and Port Townsend Paper Co. in Port Townsend. Those inspections include reviews of tank maintenance, testing, operating procedures, repair records and previous worker injuries or near misses.
L&I’s investigation into the fatal tank failure remains ongoing. State law requires the department to issue findings within 180 days of opening the investigation.