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Company Faces OSHA Fines For June's Fire

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By NICOLA M. WHITE, The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 4, 2008

ZEPHYRHILLS - A local company faces more than $139,000 in fines because of a flash fire in June that badly burned an employee.

Investigators from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration uncovered more than a dozen serious violations at Wheelblast, a Copeland Drive company that paints and sandblasts structural steel. The violations were detailed in a report delivered to the company last month. The company has until Monday to respond, OSHA officials said.

"This company's management placed employees in extreme danger when it ignored numerous warning labels and product safety information for toxic and highly flammable substances," said Les Grove, OSHA's area director in Tampa in a statement.

Among the violations, inspectors said employees were exposed to toxic and flammable paints and were not provided flame resistant clothing or personal protective equipment. There also were no guardrails around some open pits and inspectors saw employees smoking in the spraying area, according to the citation.

Wheelblast officials were out of the office Thursday and unavailable for comment.

According to Zephyrhills Fire Rescue, firefighters responded to Wheelblast, at 3951 Copeland Drive, at 9:26 a.m. June 13. Paul Echevaria, then 28, had been applying flammable finish coatings in a designated outdoor spray area. Before being airlifted to a Tampa hospital, he told a fire inspector that he had been checking a heater when the materials he was working with burst into flames, according to a Zephyrhills Fire Rescue report. He suffered burns over 30 percent of his body.

Reporter Nicola M. White can be reached at (813) 779-4613 or nwhite1@tampatrib.com.

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