TECO, second company cited and fined after molten slag release led to five deaths

Tampa Electric Company failed to follow procedures when performing maintenance on equipment and it led to a fatal incident in June, the U.S. Department of Labor determined.

In a news release Thursday, it was announced the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration had cited TECO and Gaffin Industrial Services Inc. and fined them a combined total of $160,972.

According to the release, TECO was cited for failing to follow energy control procedures while performing maintenance on equipment while Gaffin Industrial Services was cited for failing to develop procedures to control hazardous energy. Both companies were cited for failing to provide appropriate personal protective equipment to safeguard employees from burns.

In June, five employees were killed and another was seriously burned when a blockage inside a coal-fired furnace broke free and spilled molten slag into the area at the Big Bend River Station where TECO, Gaffin and Brace Integrated Services Inc. employees were working. Federal officials were called to investigate the power plant after the incident. Slag is coal waste that crystallizes when coal waste mixes with water.

Armando Perez, Antonio Navarrete - both Brace employees - Frank Lee Jones, Christopher Irvin and Michael McCort all died after the June 29 incident.

“This tragedy demonstrates what can happen when hazards are not properly controlled,” OSHA Atlanta Regional Administrator Kurt Petermeyer said in the release. “Employers must develop and implement necessary procedures to prevent incidents such as this from occurring.”

Prior to June, the last fatal incident at the Apollo Beach plant was when a contractor slipped and fell from a catwalk in 2014. Four TECO workers were seriously injured while doing routine maintenance work on a slag tank at a Port Sutton plank 20 years ago.

TECO and Gaffin have 15 business days from the time they receive the citation to comply, request a conference with the area director of OSHA or contest the findings before a review commission.

This story was originally published December 29, 2017 at 8:36 AM with the headline "TECO, second company cited and fined after molten slag release led to five deaths."