Federal safety inspectors have found that the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs exposed workers to potentially deadly hazards on steam lines at a Prescott health care facility.
According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the facility lacked a lockout-tagout procedure designed to prevent the release of dangerous energy when steam lines are being serviced.
Employees at the Bob Stump VA Medical Center used an ad hoc procedure that didn’t meet OSHA requirements.
The findings come less than two years after two workers died at a VA care facility in Connecticut after suffering fatal burns while working on a steam line.
OSHA cited similar violations in Prescott and issued one willful violation and two repeated violations to officials there.
The northern Arizona VA serves more than 33,000 veterans in the region.