{"id":12301,"date":"2012-10-24T14:08:10","date_gmt":"2012-10-24T18:08:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/?p=12301"},"modified":"2012-10-24T14:08:10","modified_gmt":"2012-10-24T18:08:10","slug":"company-faces-osha-fine-in-fatal-redhook-keg-explosion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/2012\/10\/24\/company-faces-osha-fine-in-fatal-redhook-keg-explosion\/","title":{"rendered":"Company Faces OSHA Fine In Fatal Redhook Keg Explosion"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_12312\"  class=\"wp-caption module image right\" style=\"max-width: 199px;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/stacylynn\/5387867259\/lightbox\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-12312\" title=\"5387867259_61e1195bb0_b\" src=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/files\/2012\/10\/5387867259_61e1195bb0_b-199x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"199\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/files\/2012\/10\/5387867259_61e1195bb0_b-199x300.jpg 199w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/files\/2012\/10\/5387867259_61e1195bb0_b-620x933.jpg 620w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/files\/2012\/10\/5387867259_61e1195bb0_b.jpg 680w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 199px) 100vw, 199px\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Selbe B. \/ Flickr Creative Commons<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">OSHA found safety violations at Redhook Brewery in Portsmouth contributed to a fatal keg explosion last spring<\/p><\/div>\n<p><a title=\"Redhook Brewing\" href=\"http:\/\/redhook.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Redhook Brewery&#8217;s<\/a> parent company, <a title=\"Craft Brew Alliance, Inc.\" href=\"http:\/\/craftbrew.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Craft Brew Alliance<\/a>, faces <a title=\"OSHA Fines Redhook $63,500 in Ben Harris Case\" href=\"http:\/\/portsmouth-nh.patch.com\/articles\/osha-fines-redhook-63-500-in-ben-harris-case?ncid=newsltuspatc00000003\" target=\"_blank\">$63,500 in fines<\/a> for safety violations tied to the death of a worker last spring.<\/p>\n<p>In April, 26-year old Ben Harris was killed when a <a title=\"Redhook releases details of fatal keg explosion\" href=\"http:\/\/www.seacoastonline.com\/articles\/20120426-NEWS-120429786\" target=\"_blank\">plastic keg he was pressure-cleaning at the Portsmouth brewery exploded<\/a>.\u00a0 After a six-month investigation, <a title=\"Occupational Safety And Health Administration\" href=\"http:\/\/osha.gov\" target=\"_blank\">OSHA<\/a> issued three citations to CBA, covering a series of safety violations ranging from minor to serious.<\/p>\n<p>The <a title=\"OSHA Fines Redhook $63,500 in Ben Harris Case\" href=\"http:\/\/portsmouth-nh.patch.com\/articles\/osha-fines-redhook-63-500-in-ben-harris-case?ncid=newsltuspatc00000003\" target=\"_blank\">Portsmouth Patch<\/a> runs down the basic list of violations.\u00a0 Robert Cook writes:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;According to [Department of Labor spokesman Edmund] Fitzgerald, the biggest violations that Redhook committed that led to Harris&#8217; death were:<\/p>\n<p>&#8230;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The explosion resulted from excess pressure introduced into the keg from the keg cleanout line.<\/li>\n<li>The cleanout line lacked an air regulator that would have limited its air pressure to below 60 pounds per square inch or PSI, the maximum air pressure limit recommended by keg manufacturers.<\/li>\n<li>Other employees who used the cleanout line were exposed to the same hazard while cleaning out steel kegs.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>One of the more mysterious aspects of this accident was the presence of a <em>plastic<\/em> keg at the brewery in the first place.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p><div class=\"related-content alignright\"><h4 class=\"related-header\">Related<\/h4><div class=\"links\"><h5>Posts<\/h5><ul><li class=\"link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/2012\/05\/04\/a-closer-look-at-brewery-accidents-after-the-deadly-redhook-explosion\/\">A Closer Look at Brewery Accidents After The Deadly Redhook Explosion<\/a><\/li><li class=\"link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/2012\/06\/08\/redhook-brewery-brings-on-independent-investigator-for-mysterious-deadly-explosion\/\">Redhook Brewery Brings On Independent Investigator For Unexplained Deadly Explosion<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/div><div class=\"topics\"><h5>Topics<\/h5><p class=\"topic\"><img class=\"alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/files\/2011\/07\/729163602_fbfb7cd5211-60x60.jpg\" height=\"60\" width=\"60\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/topic\/seacoast\/\">What You Need To Know About The Seacoast&#8217;s Economy<\/a><\/p><\/div><\/div>CBA maintains the keg wasn&#8217;t owned by the company.\u00a0 Jim Haddadin of <em>Foster&#8217;s Daily Democrat<\/em> has written a <a title=\"Redhook owner facing fines after fatal keg explosion in Portsmouth\" href=\"http:\/\/www.fosters.com\/apps\/pbcs.dll\/article?AID=\/20121024\/GJNEWS_01\/121029610&amp;Template\" target=\"_blank\">great investigative story looking into this odd situation<\/a>.\u00a0 CBA issued a statement to the newspaper saying that Redhook only uses a specific brand of steel kegs.\u00a0 But Haddadin reports the machine exceeded the &#8220;recommended pressure&#8221; for these metal kegs as well.<\/p>\n<p>OSHA didn&#8217;t mention the keg manufacturer&#8217;s name in its citation of CBA.\u00a0 But Haddadin found that microbreweries are skittish about using plastic kegs.\u00a0 And one brand keeps coming up in &#8220;numerous reports&#8221; to the <a title=\"Brewers Association: A Passionate Voice For Craft Brewers\" href=\"http:\/\/www.brewersassociation.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">Brewers Association<\/a> trade group:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;All of those reports involve products manufactured by a California company called Plastic Kegs America, Brewers Association director Paul Gatza said last week.<\/p>\n<p>Since the accident at Redhook, Foster&#8217;s has learned of at least four breweries around the country where plastic kegs have exploded while being cleaned in a pressurized keg washer.\u00a0 In each instance, the breweries were using products manufactured by Plastic Kegs America.<\/p>\n<p>In each instance, the kegs separated at the center seam, where two pieces of plastic that form the keg come together.<\/p>\n<p>CBA has indicated that the April 24 explosion that killed Harris split the keg around the middle seam where the two halves were joined.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><em>Foster&#8217;s<\/em> reports the full OSHA report on the fatal Redhook accident won&#8217;t become public information until CBA has had time to go over it.\u00a0 StateImpact has combed OSHA records to put the Redhook explosion into the context of other brewery accidents over the years.\u00a0 You can catch that coverage <a title=\"A Closer Look at Brewery Accidents After The Deadly Redhook Explosion\" href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/2012\/05\/04\/a-closer-look-at-brewery-accidents-after-the-deadly-redhook-explosion\/\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Redhook Brewery&#8217;s parent company, Craft Brew Alliance, faces $63,500 in fines for safety violations tied to the death of a worker last spring. In April, 26-year old Ben Harris was killed when a plastic keg he was pressure-cleaning at the Portsmouth brewery exploded.\u00a0 After a six-month investigation, OSHA issued three citations to CBA, covering a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":12312,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[51],"tags":[572,424,508],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12301"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12301"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12301\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12320,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12301\/revisions\/12320"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12312"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12301"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12301"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/new-hampshire\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12301"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}