Monday, April 27, 1998 | 10:48 a.m.
A state commission investigating what new laws or regulations are needed to better protect against chemical explosions is forging ahead with some good ideas.
Tony Clark, chairman of the Commission on Workplace Safety and Community Protection, said his panel is considering tighter monitoring of companies that make hazardous chemicals. The commission was formed by Gov. Bob Miller in the wake of a January explosion at Sierra Chemical Co., located just outside Reno, that killed four people. U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board investigators recently raised questions about what they believed were inadequate training and infrequent inspections at Sierra Chemical Co.
"One of the things that becomes fairly clear is that we have to get explosives under" the Chemical Accident Prevention Program at the Division of Environmental Protection, Clark told the Associated Press. "They are doing regular inspections and the company has to report back on a regular basis. When you are dealing with this hazardous of a process, you have to have that kind of oversight."
As Nevada Division of Environmental Protection chief Lew Dodgion noted, explosives have been specifically excluded from annual inspection by his agency. "It was brought up in the Legislature but the conclusion was it was already regulated" by the local fire marshals, OSHA and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
Obviously, there needs to be a much more frequent and rigorous investigation of companies making hazardous chemicals. The Legislature should demand that employees who work in these plants have a safe place to do their job and that the surrounding communities have every right to feel they're not living next to a time bomb.
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