MIDDLETOWN, Conn. (AP) -- The widow of a pipefitter who died with five colleagues in a Connecticut power plant blast urged federal officials Monday to tighten safety rules for cleaning industrial pipes.
Jodi Thomas' plea to members of a congressional subcommittee came as its members and a separate federal safety board consider asking regulators to ban a procedure that uses explosive gas to clean pipes, a practice that led to deadly blasts in Connecticut and North Carolina.
Thomas' husband, Ron Crabb, was one of six people killed in the blast at the Kleen Energy Systems power plant in Middletown in February. In June 2009, four people died and nearly 70 were injured at the ConAgra Slim Jim factory in Garner, N.C.
In both cases, natural gas accumulated during the pipe-cleaning procedure, known as a "gas blow," and ignited. Workplace safety groups say using air or nitrogen to purge pipes would be safer.
"This tragedy should never, ever have happened. It was preventable. This is why I urge you, please, do not allow Ron's death to be in vain," Thomas told members of the Workforce Protections Subcommittee of the U.S. House Education and Labor Committee at their hearing Monday in Middletown, a few miles from the blast site.
"Real change, real protection for hardworking Americans, must come out of this. It is the only way to truly honor him and the other men who lost their lives, whose families are forever broken," she said.
Middletown police and fire officials, state police and the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration, are investigating the explosion. Middletown police have not yet determined whether any individuals or entities should face criminal charges.
U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., promised Thomas an unspecified "legislative remedy," and said after Monday's hearing that she would support a ban on the gas-blow procedure.
Later Monday, the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board was expected to advise regulators to ban the practice, which it says has also caused other potentially deadly explosions.
The board was meeting in Portland, just across the Connecticut River from the Kleen Energy plant. It planned to vote on a series of recommendations for better oversight, licensing and alternatives to the gas-blow procedure.
"From a fire and explosion perspective, releasing large volumes of natural gas in the vicinity of workers or ignition sources is inherently unsafe," the safety board wrote in a report.
If approved, the board's recommendations would be sent to OSHA, the National Fire Protection Association and other organizations.
In prepared text released before the subcommittee hearing, board member John Bresland said there is a "significant gap" in existing gas safety standards for general industry and construction that continues to threaten the safety of workers.
"The present patchwork of inadequate codes and voluntary practices does not protect America's workers from the kind of explosions that killed six at Kleen Energy, killed four at ConAgra and threatened many others with death or injury," he said.
