An interstate trucking company is under fire for an incident involving flammable vapor ignition that resulted in a serious employee injury.
Bulk Trans Inc., an interstate freight carrier based out of Gallup, received a $2,980 penalty from the New Mexico Environment Department’s (NMED) Occupational Health and Safety Bureau in May.
The fine is the result of a November 2024 accident in which flammable vapors ignited at the company’s Gallup location. According to state records, an employee suffered serious burns on the face and hands and had to spend some time in a hospital as a result.
State inspectors were unable to identify the exact cause of the ignition, but they did find at least one potential source: Lithium-ion battery-powered cell phones.
According to safety regulations, using or even carrying a smartphone in an area where flammable vapors are present is against the rules and a recipe for disaster.
Lithium-ion batteries, like those found in most smartphones, can generate sparks or heat if the phone has been dropped or has a manufacturing defect. Phones can even heat up during normal operation. In an area with concentrated flammable vapors (like those produced by diesel gas, solvents or industrial chemicals), even a tiny spark or hot surface is enough to trigger an explosion or cause a flash fire.
The citation mentions the use of devices that aren’t “intrinsically safe”—like mobile phones and walkie talkies that are built with components that limit heat and prevent sparks and static electricity and have been specifically designed to operate safely in explosive environments.
But according to the inspectors, Bulk Trans allowed employees to carry their smartphones in these sensitive spaces. Even if it wasn’t the cause of the November accident, it could potentially have caused another in the future.
The OSHA regulations cited by the penalty notification don’t specifically name ion-battery-powered phones as a source of danger, however. The list of ignition sources includes open flames, smoking, welding, hot surfaces, frictional heat, and many others. The regulations do mention static, electrical and mechanical sparks, though.
The company also received a citation for failing to report the incident to authorities within 24 hours. Employers are required to do this whenever a worker is hospitalized because of a work injury.
Bulk Trans Inc. did not respond to a request for comment. It’s unclear if the company has addressed the issues that were identified by the state.
Industrial safety experts say that as lithium-ion-powered tools and devices become more common on worksites, employers and regulators need to update hazard assessments to keep up with these evolving risks. Without strict enforcement and up-to-date training, even everyday items can become ignition sources.
“OSHA regulations are designed to minimize or eliminate hazards that employees are exposed to every day,” says Drew Goretzka, NMED’s Director of Communications. “When employers don’t follow them, unnecessary injuries and even deaths will occur. This case is a prime example of that.”
