2008 — Feb 7, Imperial Sugar Refinery Explosion and Fire, Port Wentworth, GA — 14

–14  NYT, Shaila Dewan. “Report Cites Lack of Precautions in 2008 Sugar Plant Fire.” 9-24-2009.

–14  U.S. Chemical Safety Board, Investigation Information Page, Imperial Sugar Company…

–14  U.S. CSB. Investigation Report. Sugar Dust Explosion and Fire. Sep 2009, cover page.

 

Narrative Information

 

U.S. CSB: “On February 7, 2008, a huge explosion and fire occurred at the Imperial Sugar refinery northwest of Savannah, Georgia, causing 14 deaths and injuring 38 others, including 14 with serious and life-threatening burns. The explosion was fueled by massive accumulations of combustible sugar dust throughout the packaging building.”  (CSB, Investigation Information Page, Imperial Sugar Company Explosion and Fire, Port Wentworth, GA, February 7, 2008)

 

“On February 7, 2008, a catastrophic dust explosion destroyed the massive packaging plant at the Imperial Sugar refinery in Port Wentworth, Georgia, fatally burning 14 workers and injuring 38 others.  In Senate testimony in July 2008, Chairman Bresland noted that the Imperial explosion and other major dust explosions would likely have been prevented if the companies had followed existing National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) recommendations for controlling dust hazards.  Those measures – including appropriate equipment and building design, worker training, and rigorous dust-cleaning programs – should form the basis of a new regulatory standard for industrial workplaces, Mr. Bresland said.”  (U.S. CSB Press Release, 2-4-2009)

 

U.S. CSB Chairman Bresland: “….I have visited the Imperial Sugar refinery and witnessed first-hand the devastation there. The destruction was the most severe of any chemical accident I have seen in my six years with the CSB….Madam Chairman, this accident was preventable. [p1]

 

“Combustible dust is an insidious workplace hazard when it accumulates on surfaces, especially elevated surfaces. A wide range of common combustible materials can explode in finely powdered form, including wood, coal, four, sugar, metals, plastics, and many chemicals and pharmaceuticals.

 

“At Imperial Sugar a catastrophic explosion resulted from massive accumulations of combustible sugar dust on surfaces throughout the packaging plant….Let me summarize a few key points.

 

“The photographs on the easel were taken in September and October 2006 at different locations inside the sugar packaging building at Imperial’s Savannah refinery. They confirm the existence of substantial dust accumulations on various ducts, motors, switch boxes and processing equipment. These accumulations — ranging in depth from an inch or two up to several feet — far exceed the NFPA-recommended[1] limit of 1/32 of an inch. Witnesses told the CSB that large accumulations of dust were present until the day of the explosion. [pp. 2-3]

 

“According to an employee, near the powder mills, sugar accumulated on the floor to a ‘mid-leg’ height. We were told that airborne sugar in this room made it difficult for workers to see each other. We obtained documents indicating that certain parts of Imperial’s milling process were releasing tens of thousands of pounds of sugar per month into the work area.

 

“Based on our evidence, Imperial did not have a written dust control program or a program for using safe dust removal methods. And the company lacked a formal training program to educate its workers about combustible dust hazards. [p. 4]

 

“Madam Chairman, I believe these findings are further evidence of the need for a comprehensive regulatory standard for dust. Since the CSB was established in 1998, three of the four deadliest accidents we have investigated ere determined to be combustible dust explosions.

 

“In November 2006, the CSB completed a thorough study on combustible dust. The Board called for:

A comprehensive OSHA regulatory standard to prevent dust explosions in general industry. [p. 5]

 

Improved training of OSHA inspectors to recognize dust hazards, and

 

Improvements to Material Safety Data Sheets to better communicate dust hazards to workers.

 

“The CSB based its recommendations, in part, on the success of OSHA’s 1987 grain dust standard, which has cut deaths and injuries from grain dust explosions and fires by 60%. This standard requires worker training, rigorous housekeeping, and limits grain dust accumulations to 1/8 of an inch.

 

“The NFPA has produced highly respected consensus standards about how best to prevent and mitigate combustible dust explosions…. [p. 6] However, without a comprehensive OSHA standard for combustible dust, it is difficult for businesses to know which specific NFPA provisions or other requirements they may be subject to….” [p. 7] (Bresland. “Oral Testimony of…Chairman…[CSB]…Senate Subcommittee on…Workplace Safety, July 29, 2008.”)

 

Newspaper

 

Sep 24, NYT: “Atlanta — A huge fire last year at a sugar refinery near Savannah, Ga., that killed 14 workers and injured 36 more was “entirely preventable,” a federal official said Thursday as the results of an investigation into the fire’s causes were released. The owner of the plant, the Imperial Sugar Company, and the plant’s managers knew for decades about the hazards of sugar dust but failed to take the necessary precautions, according to the report, issued by the Chemical Safety Board, which investigates industrial chemical accidents.

 

“The report blamed inadequate equipment design, poor maintenance and ineffective house-keeping for the explosion and fire in February 2008, and said that Imperial Sugar and the sugar industry as a whole were aware of the dangers of dust explosions at least as early as 1925.

 

“In a written statement, John C. Sheptor, the president and chief executive of Imperial Sugar, said the company had “collaborated” with the safety board on the report and was “working diligently” to put in place the report’s safety recommendations.

 

“The report also cited internal memorandums at the plant, in Port Wentworth, Ga., dating from 1967, before it was owned by Imperial Sugar, showing that managers were concerned about the possibility that accumulations of sugar dust could ignite a chain of explosions that would destroy “large sections of the plant.”

 

“The initial explosion most likely occurred inside a sugar conveyor situated beneath two silos, the report said. The conveyor had recently been enclosed, creating “a confined, unventilated space where sugar dust could accumulate to an explosive concentration,” the safety board said. That explosion quickly spread, igniting sugar dust and spilled sugar in adjacent areas. Imperial Sugar had not conducted evacuation drills and the explosion and fires disabled most emergency lighting, trapping workers in a dark maze of corridors, the report said.

 

“The Chemical Safety Board does not issue citations or levy fines, but in July 2008, the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration  found violations at the Port Wentworth plant and at an Imperial Sugar plant in Gramercy, La., where an inspection five weeks after the Georgia fire found sugar dust four feet thick in some areas. The agency proposed fines of $8.7 million, the third-largest in the agency’s history. Imperial Sugar is contesting the fine….” (NYT, Shaila Dewan. “Report Cites Lack of Precautions in 2008 Sugar Plant Fire.” 9-24-2009.)

 

Sources

 

Bresland, John S. “Oral Testimony of John S. Bresland, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, U.S. Chemical Safety Board, Before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, Subcommittee on Employment and Workplace Safety, July 29, 2008.” Washington, DC U.S. Congress, 7-29-2008.

 

New York Times (Shaila Dewan.) “Report Cites Lack of Precautions in 2008 Sugar Plant Fire.” 9-24-2009. Accessed 6-26-2015 at: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/25/us/25sugar.html?_r=1&

 

U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board. Investigation Information Page, Imperial Sugar Company Explosion and Fire, Port Wentworth, GA, February 7, 2008. Wash., DC: CSB.   http://www.chemsafety.gov/index.cfm?folder=current_investigations&page=info&INV_ID=80

 

U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board. Investigation Report. Sugar Dust Explosion and Fire (14 Killed, 36 Injured). Washington, DC: US CSB, Report No. 2008-05-I-GA, Sep 2009. Accessed 6-26-2015 at: http://www.csb.gov/assets/1/19/imperial_sugar_report_final_updated.pdf

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[1] National Fire Protection Association.