Police confirmed that the one person killed in an explosion at Arens Controls in Arlington Heights is an Itasca man.

Investigators will be back Wednesday to try to determine what caused the explosion in the company’s electronics testing area Tuesday that also injured 12 other people, including three police officers and two firefighters who responded.

Neil Nicholson of Itasca suffered serious injuries in the explosion and was pronounced dead at the scene, according to police. None of the other injuries were life-threatening, Arlington Heights Fire Chief Glenn Eriksen said.

The blast happened around 8:30 a.m. inside the two-story building at 3602 N. Kennicott Ave., just north of Dundee Road and east of Route 53.

So far, authorities say the explosion appears to be accidental, but investigators from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the Office of the Illinois State Fire Marshal, and the Arlington Heights Police Forensics Unit have not made any final ruling.

“There’s a lot of damage inside, so it’s hard to tell right now if it was the chemical itself or the machine,” Arlington Heights Police Cmdr. Ken Galinski said. “There’s a lot of destruction and devastation in there from the equipment that exploded.”

OSHA spokesman Scott Allen said agency investigators will be interviewing employees and witnesses, and their investigation could take up to sx months.

“We’ll try to figure out if there are any OSHA standards that may have been violated and try to figure out what caused this so we can help avoid having something like this happening again,” Allen said.

One thing investigators are looking at is whether potassium hydroxide — a potentially explosive and toxic chemical — was a factor in the explosion.

“It was a very violent explosion. There’s twisted metal, buckled fencing, things like that,” Ericksen said. “The roof kind of buckled up where the explosion occurred.”

The explosion also sparked a small fire, which was quickly extinguished, and released a diluted form of potassium hydroxide into the air, Eriksen said.

The chemical is a skin and respiratory irritant, and reacts with some common metals to produce potentially explosive hydrogen gas, according to the website of Northstar Chemical, a distributor of industrial chemicals.

“At this point in time, we don’t know what role the chemical had in the accident, if it had any role at all,” Ericksen said.

The company’s CEO was quoted in a brief statement the company released Tuesday evening.

“Our heartfelt thoughts and prayers are with the Arens Control Company, LLC employees and their families in the aftermath of this morning’s tragic accident at our factory in Arlington Heights,” Kenneth C. Kunin said. “All our efforts will go into supporting them while simultaneously working and cooperating with public safety officials and investigators to ascertain exactly what happened and why.”

Two police officers from Arlington Heights and one from Buffalo Grove were the first to arrive on the scene and didn’t have protective gear to prepare them for the amount of smoke and chemicals from the explosion as they entered the building to search for victims. The officers were treated at the hospital for symptoms including coughing, chest pain and headaches.

“They’re going to be fine. They were released from the hospital. They’re taking a few days off, and hopefully they’ll be back to work soon,” Galinski said.

Northwest Community Hospital in Arlington Heights treated five Arens Controls employees for exposure to potassium hydroxide, according to a hospital spokesman. The hospital also treated two Arlington Heights firefighters for presumed inhalation-related injuries.

After the initial response, officials used fans to ventilate the building and waited several hours before going back inside due to the amount of smoke and possible chemicals in the air.

The early morning blast was a shock to both employees and neighbors who reported hearing a loud boom from the back of the business, which houses both offices and an assembly area where controls are made for heavy equipment such as trucks and planes.

Although most of the damage to the building was interior, the explosion damaged the roof and sent stones from atop the building flying, damaging 20 cars in the parking lot, officials said.

Employee Shawn Kelley, a welder who started his shift at 6 a.m., was sitting in his car eating his breakfast when he heard the explosion. Stones rained down, shattering the window of his Honda Accord LX, he said.

“It was loud. I heard the explosion from the roof and all the way down,” Kelley said. “I saw a lot of rock.”

Resident Bob Lee, who lives nearby, was talking a walk when he heard the boom, which he likened to “a truck exhaust backfiring.”

Then he watched as ambulances from five towns attended to people outside the building.

“There were women who were pretty shook up. They were holding on to each other,” Lee said.

The 50 employees in the building at the time were evacuated, but officials said surrounding businesses in the mainly industrial area were never in any danger. Arens employees huddled in the parking lot and lawn until midmorning when they were sent home for the day.

Kunin called Tuesday’s explosion “a horrible accident.”

“Right now, our primary concern is with the employees and the family of the deceased,” he said.

On the Job Webinar Series

On the Job is a FREE online Webinar series designed to provide industry information and updates to help keep you informed about the latest trends affecting your business or organization. Industry experts and knowledgeable Grainger staff partner through On the Job to provide relevant solutions regarding some of the key business issues you face every day including:

• Healthcare View schedule
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UPCOMING WEBINARS

HEALTHCARE
MONTH	TOPIC
May 2012	Healthcare Sustainability – Energy Management
Jun 2012	Healthcare Sustainability – Energy Management
Jul 2012	Healthcare Emergency Preparedness – Power Continuity

SAFETY
MONTH	TOPIC
May 2012	Safety: NFPA 70E Navigating The Standard
Jun 2012	Safety: Beating the Heat: Overview of Employee Cooling Options
Jul 2012	Safety: Implementing Global Harmonization System (GHS) into your HazCom Program

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 Academia Stakeholders

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• National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health
• OSHA Directorate of Construction
• Kentucky Department of Labor Office of Standards Interpretation
• Massachusetts Department of Health, Occupational Health Surveillance Program
• Wisconsin Division of Public Health
• Defense Intelligence Agency, Department of Defense

Other Stakeholders

• American Industrial Hygiene Association
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Other Fall Prevention Partners

Industry Stakeholders

• Hispanic Contractors Association de Tejas

CPWR: Don’t Fall For It!

Don’t Fall for It! is the result of a CPWR led, multi-stakeholder collaboration to develop attention-grabbing training materials to raise awareness of ladder fall hazards and prevention.

CPWR: Don’t Fall For It!

This 11-minute Don’t Fall For It! DVD features first-person accounts of workers who have fallen from ladders and emotional testimony from the family of a fatal fall victim.

Fact Sheets

Four accompanying fact sheets reinforce the DVD’s step-by-step primer on choosing, inspecting, setting up, and climbing ladders safely.

• Fact Sheet 1 - Protect Yourself from Fatal or Crippling Falls
• Fact Sheet 1 - Protect Yourself from Fatal or Crippling Falls – en español
• Fact Sheet 2 - Choosing and Inspecting Ladders
• Fact Sheet 2 - Choosing and Inspecting Ladders – en español
• Fact Sheet 3 - Setting Up Portable Ladders
• Fact Sheet 3 - Setting Up Portable Ladders – en español
• Fact Sheet 4 - Climbing Ladders Safely
• Fact Sheet 4 - Climbing Ladders Safely – en español

Don’t Fall For It Impact Card

• Impact Card - Don’t Fall For It

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• OSHA Campaign Flyer – English
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• Focus Four Toolbox Talks – Falls from Ladders
• Portable Ladder Training Guide and Portable Ladder Checklist (From ACGIH®, Tailgate Meetings That Work!. Copyright 1997. Reprinted with permission.)

Scaffolds

• Focus Four Toolbox Talks – Falls From Scaffolding
• Scaffold Training Guide and Scaffold Checklist (From ACGIH®, Tailgate Meetings That Work!. Copyright 1997. Reprinted with permission.)

Roofs

• Focus Four Toolbox Talks – Falls Through Skylights and Holes

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• Guardrails Training Guide and Guardrails Checklist (From ACGIH®, Tailgate Meetings That Work!. Copyright 1997. Reprinted with permission.)

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• Preventing Falls from Ladders in Construction: A Guide to Training Site Supervisors – Research results and materials to train site supervisors on how to identify and prevent ladder accidents on construction sites
• Preventing Falls from Ladders in Construction PowerPoint – A presentation that can be used with Preventing Falls from Ladders in Construction: A Guide to Training Site Supervisors

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• Leading Edge Fall Protection System – a manual for installation and use of fall protection in steel erection

Handouts

Ladders

• Ladder Safety For Residential Construction Contractors – a handout with illustrations for residential workers on how to use a ladder safely
• 7 Steps to Ladder Safety – a one page graphic illustration on how to use a ladder safely

Scaffolds

• Scaffold Safety For Residential Construction Contractors – a handout with illustrations for residential workers on how to use scaffolds safely
• Scaffold Safety For Residential Construction Contractors – Español
• OSHA Quick Card – Supported Scaffold Safety Tips – a brief description of working safely on a supported scaffold including what should be covered in user training

Other

• FALLS The Leading Killer on Construction Sites – a handout with illustrations for residential workers debunking myths about the risks of falling and issues with using fall protection
• FALLS The Leading Killer on Construction Sites – Español

Visit Website Here: http://stopconstructionfalls.com/

Random inspections of U.S. industrial workplaces lower the risk of workers being injured on the job and have no measurable negative effect on the companies inspected, according to a study in the journal Science.

Companies chosen for random inspections by California’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration recorded 9.4 percent fewer worker injuries than those that were not inspected, the study found.

The study, published today, also found that the companies inspected were no more likely to cut jobs, lose sales, have their credit ratings cut or go out of business than those that were not inspected.

Over its four-decade history, the federal OSHA has come under fire from both organized labor, which worries that it does not do enough to protect workers, and from big business, which argues that it imposes unnecessary costs.

An attorney representing the U.S. Chamber of Commerce told an April Senate committee hearing into whether OSHA moves too slowly in developing new regulations that employers view the agency as unresponsive to businesses’ suggestions.

“Too often there is a perception that OSHA is determined to pursue a new standard regardless of how it will impact employers or whether it is justified,” said the attorney, David Sarvadi of Keller and Heckman.

That sort of concern sparked the idea for the study, conducted by three professors from the University of California, Harvard Business School and Boston University.

“We went in not really knowing what to expect, because from my perspective the rhetoric on both sides seems in some ways convincing but in some ways extreme,” said Michael Toffel, an associate professor of business administration at Harvard Business School and one of the study’s authors. “It seemed like a real puzzle that people had such strong opinions without a whole lot of evidence.”

LOWER INJURY COSTS

When injuries were reported, the worker compensation claims that resulted from them — which account for both the cost of medical treatment and lost wages — were 26 percent lower in facilities than were inspected than those that were not.

The study is based on an analysis of 409 California single-location businesses in industries, including woodworking and metalworking, which had high injury rates and were inspected by that state’s OSHA body from 1996 through 2006. It compared results at those businesses with 409 similar companies that were not inspected in that time period.

The authors focused on California because at the time the state’s safety agency conducted some inspections based on random selection, rather than just focusing on targets of complaints.

An official at the AFL-CIO labor federation said the findings show that OSHA is effective in promoting safe workplaces.

“What the study tells us is that protecting your workers on the job and keeping them safe is good for workers but is also good for business,” said Peg Seminario, director of safety and health at the AFL-CIO. “What’s too costly is not addressing injuries and illnesses. We can’t afford not to protect people.”

An official at the National Association of Manufacturers said the study failed to consider whether the regulations that OSHA enforces — rather than the inspections — hurt companies or protect workers.

“The authors are not asking the right question,” said Joe Trauger, vice president of human resources at the trade group. “The appropriate question is, ‘Do regulations provide a safer workplace?’ Random inspections happen after the fact, so if any job losses were to happen due to regulations, they would have happened before the inspection took place.”

May 17, 2012

Investigation Details:
CAI / Arnel Chemical Plant Explosion

Washington DC, May 17, 2012 – The U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) announced today that it is commending Massachusetts authorities for improving the regulation of hazardous materials storage and processing in the state, including monitoring of high risk facilities to ensure they are complying with key federal process safety and risk management programs.

The action – taken by the Massachusetts Department of Fire Services – satisfied a key recommendation made by the CSB in its 2008 final report on the 2006 explosion at an ink and paint products manufacturing facility in Danvers, a suburb of Boston. The CSB concluded that an unattended mixing tank overheated in an unventilated building at CAI, Inc, causing the release of flammable vapors which subsequently ignited. The facility stored alcohols, heptanes, other solvents, pigments, resin and nitrocellulose ; all of it which were destroyed in the explosion. Twenty-four houses and six businesses were destroyed. Many other homes were extensively damaged in the blast. Ten people were injured, but no one was killed, possibly because the accident occurred in the middle of the night while people were asleep in bed.

The CSB investigation found that CAI had increased its quantities of flammable liquids over the years. The additional quantities went undetected by local authorities who had not inspected the facility for over four years prior to the time of the incident.

At the time of the accident mandatory notification by companies to local authorities that a facility had increased its quantities of flammable materials from the initial amount listed in the permit was not well enforced. Therefore, the Board recommended that Massachusetts require companies storing and handling flammable materials to amend their license and re-register with state or local authorities when increasing their quantities of flammable materials; they must also verify compliance with local, state fire codes and hazardous chemical regulations.

Noting the Board voted unanimously to declare the status of the recommendation as “Closed – Exceeds Recommended Action,” CSB Chairman Rafael Moure-Eraso said, “Massachusetts authorities have not only adopted the CSB recommendation, but went beyond their intent with the regulations issued by the Board of Fire Prevention Regulations in 2012. The Massachusetts approach, if adopted by other states, has the potential of leveraging the resources of fire authorities to complement the regulatory and enforcement work of OSHA and the EPA with regard to high hazard facilities.”

Dr. Moure-Eraso noted that the Massachusetts regulations classify hazardous materials into five categories based on threshold quantities. Categories 1-4, for example, must be in compliance with OSHA’s Hazard Communication standard. Category 5, under which CAI would have fallen, requires companies to certify compliance with the OSHA Process Safety Management standard and with the EPA Risk Management Program regulation. “Had this state regulation been in place, and been enforced, in 2006,”
Dr. Moure-Eraso said, “the company and regulators would have been more likely to have recognized the hazard presented by the operation and to have prevented the accident.”

A key related Board recommendation to the state remains open. It urges the Department of Fire Services to audit local governments and local fire authorities in Massachusetts for their enforcement of compliance with permit limits and inspection requirements for storage and handling of flammable materials.

The Department of Fire Services informed the CSB that it lacks the resources to audit all local government for compliance, and would instead provide training for local fire authorities to adequately review permits and inspect facilities for compliance with the new requirements. Training materials are reportedly in development,

CSB recommendation status is determined by a board vote following a staff analysis. Reponses may be deemed “Acceptable” or “Unacceptable,” and either closed or left open for further consideration. To date, 57% of CSB recommendations have been designated “Closed – Acceptable action.” In some cases, the board has designated responses as exceeding recommended action. Only 2% of CSB recommendations – open or closed – have resulted in an “unacceptable” status.

The CSB is an independent federal agency charged with investigating industrial chemical accidents. The agency’s board members are appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate. CSB investigations look into all aspects of chemical accidents, including physical causes such as equipment failure as well as inadequacies in regulations, industry standards, and safety management systems.

The Board does not issue citations or fines but does make safety recommendations to plants, industry organizations, labor groups, and regulatory agencies such as OSHA and EPA. Visit our website, www.csb.gov.

For more information, contact Communications Manager Hillary Cohen, cell 202-446-8094, or Sandy Gilmour, 202-261-7614, cell 202-251-5496 in CSB public affairs.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and five retailers are announcing a voluntary recall to provide refunds to consumers who own crib tents and play yard tents made by Tots in Mind, Inc.

CPSC is warning parents and caregivers who own these products that infants and toddlers are at risk of serious injury or death due to strangulation and entrapment hazards presented by these products. Tots in Mind recalled the play yard tents in July 2010 and offered a repair kit that is no longer available. The company is no longer in business and has stopped all sales. CPSC staff urges parents and caregivers to stop using these crib tents and play yard tents immediately. Do not attempt to repair these products.

CPSC is aware of 27 tent failures including one fatality and one serious injury that occurred between January 1997 and April 2012 from crib tents and play yard tents made by Tots in Mind, Inc. In 2008, a two year old boy died after becoming entrapped between the bottom rail of a play yard tent and the top rail of a play yard. The fatality was reported in a prior recall with the firm in July 15, 2010.

In 2007, a two year old boy sustained a catastrophic brain injury when the crib tent affixed to his crib tent inverted and the product’s broken rod trapped him at the neck. The remaining 25 reports to CPSC involved inverted crib tents—entrapments between the tent and the crib/play yard or failures of the tent fabric and zippers. Three of these 25 reports also resulted in injuries; in one such case, a parent reported finding her child turning blue and entrapped between the product and the top rail of the play yard.

Since Tots in Mind, Inc. is out of business, retailers who sold these products have stepped up to offer refunds or store credit to consumers. The crib tents and play yard tents can present an entrapment and strangulation hazard to infants and toddlers if the dome portion inverts inside the crib or play yard, or if the product becomes partially detached from the crib or play yard. The recalled products were sold at numerous retail stores including Bed Bath & Beyond/Buy Buy Baby, Burlington Coat Factory, Toys R Us/Babies R Us, Walmart and online on websites including Amazon.com, for between $60 and $85.

Consumers should contact the store listed below where the crib tent was purchased to receive either a refund or store credit, depending on the retailer. If consumer is unsure of where the crib tent was purchased, see return policy for individual retailers below on their website:

• Amazon.com [Amazon.com]
• Bed Bath & Beyond / Buy Buy Baby [bedbathandbeyond.com or buybuybaby.com or (800) GOBEYOND]
• Burlington Coat Factory [burlingtoncoatfactory.com or (888) 223-2628]
• Toys R Us/Babies R Us [toysrus.com or babiesrus.com or (800) 869-7787]
• Walmart [walmartstores.com or (800) 925-6278]

The recall includes various models of about 330,000 crib or play yard tents. Consumers can identify their tent by the 2”x 1½” label with Tots In Mind logo located on the non-mesh portion near the top of the tent.

No model names or numbers are located on the tents, however they can be identified by the pictures below and the Tots in Mind logo on top of the tent:

Original Cozy Crib Tent

Cozy Crib Tent II

Portable Play Yard Tent

1. Portable Playard Tent
2. Original Cozy Crib Tent
3. Cozy Crib Tent II
4. Crib Tent for Convertible Cribs
5. Portable Playard Tent Plus Cabana Kit

—

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is still interested in receiving incident or injury reports that are either directly related to this product recall or involve a different hazard with the same product. Please tell us about your experience with the product on SaferProducts.gov

CPSC is charged with protecting the public from unreasonable risks of injury or death associated with the use of the thousands of consumer products under the agency’s jurisdiction. Deaths, injuries, and property damage from consumer product incidents cost the nation more than $900 billion annually. CPSC is committed to protecting consumers and families from products that pose a fire, electrical, chemical, or mechanical hazard. CPSC’s work to ensure the safety of consumer products – such as toys, cribs, power tools, cigarette lighters, and household chemicals – contributed to a decline in the rate of deaths and injuries associated with consumer products over the past 30 years.

Under federal law, it is illegal to attempt to sell or resell this or any other recalled product.

To report a dangerous product or a product-related injury, go online to: SaferProducts.gov, call CPSC’s Hotline at (800) 638-2772 or teletypewriter at (301) 595-7054 for the hearing and speech impaired. Consumers can obtain this news release and product safety information at www.cpsc.gov. To join a free e-mail subscription list, please go to www.cpsc.gov/cpsclist.aspx.