The Occupational Safety and Health Administration discovered one willful violation and two repeated violations from the Northern Arizona Veterans Affairs Health Care System in October.
The Department of Veterans Affairs “endangered maintenance workers … by allowing them to work on steam lines without ensuring they followed required safety procedures,” OSHA, a Department of Labor unit, said in an April 17 news release.
OSHA said it gave three serious notices to the Prescott, Ariz.-based location for failing to train workers on safety procedures, such as energy-isolating procedures, which “expos[ed] employees to burns and other serious injuries.”
“The findings come less than two years after a pair of workers died at the Veterans Affairs Healthcare System in West Haven, Connecticut, in November 2020 after suffering fatal burns while working on a steam line,” the administration said. “In that case, OSHA cited similar violations to those found in Prescott.”
The organization said the Department of Veterans Affairs has 15 business days to comply, request an informal conference with OSHA’s area director or appeal the notices.
