On July 20, 2020, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's Directorate of Enforcement Programs answered a letter from Falicia Hill, director of safety programs at American Tower Corporation. Her question was narrow and entirely practical. An aboveground LP-gas container sits near a building. Two authorities appear to give two different answers about the distance between them. Which one governs?
OSHA restated the question in its own words. Hill had "requested an interpretation regarding a possible conflict on the minimum separation distance between aboveground liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) containers and buildings in OSHA's 29 CFR § 1910.110 – Storage and Handling of Liquefied Petroleum Gas Standard, and National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 58 – Liquefied Petroleum Gas Code (2017 Edition)."
One tank. Two documents. A career safety professional who needed a federal agency to tell her which to follow.
That is the ground under this business. It is also the ground an outside marketing vendor walks onto the morning a dealer hands over the website, the customer list, the Google profile, and the truck photos.
Originally published on Propane Insider.