COLUMBUS, Ohio -- A new business for Columbus is already under investigation by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration because of a recent fire.
Heartland Refinery is a company near Port Columbus International Airport and recycles used motor oil, stripping it of impurities and reselling the base oil to other companies.
The refinery, described as a green business, had a fire in a truck loading area on October 13.
The fire was caused by static electricity which is generated when oil runs through the pipes.
"They even had that problem on the Alaskan pipeline," said Bill Snedegar, CEO of Heartland Refinery.
When asked if the plant is safe, Snedegar replied, "Absolutely safe. What created that fire and it wasn't like a fire, it was like a spark, a flash and they caught it quickly with the fire extinguishers."
"The product that we handle has what's called low conductivity and we learned a tough lesson," said Michael Kopf, the safety compliance officer at Heartland. "Even a well-designed system like we had wasn't enough to deal with that."
In the time since the accident, Heartland officials said they have improved the system of dealing with static electricity through better grounding, and by extending a flow tube so the oil is pumped into a truck below a fluid line which should prevent arcing.
"It has been the bane of our industry from what I’ve learned," said Kopf.
OSHA confirmed it is investigating the fire at Heartland Refinery Group and investigators were at the plant Thursday.
The plant is continuing operations during the investigation and OSHA says it could be six months before any citations are issued, if they are issued at all.
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