Imperial Sugar CEO Fires Back after VP Testifies

Imperial Sugar's CEO is firing back tonight after a top executive in the company testified at a senate hearing on the dangers of combustible dust. 
Graham H. Graham, the Vice President of Operations, told senators today that he had warned his superiors of unsafe working conditions at the company's Port Wentworth site, saying he told them if things didn't change a deadly disaster was likely.
News Three's Alice Massimi followed today's hearings and has more on Graham's words of warning.

Mr. Graham made some strong statements regarding the condition of the plant here and at the one in Gramercy, Louisiana. Allegations CEO John Sheptor is not taking lightly.

Shocking and disgraceful...just some of the words Imperial Sugar Vice President Graham Graham used when describing the conditions he encountered when he visited the company's Port Wentworth Plant.
“I said I believe a fatal disaster would befall the refinery if a fundamental change in the way the plant was being operated did not take place,” explains Graham. 
Testifying before the Senate's Subcommittee on Employment and Workplace Safety, Graham recalled a meeting he had with management at the facility only weeks before the February explosion.
“I told them quite categorically, that one of them would not be coming home soon because they would be at the city morgue because due to the potential explosive properties that we found ourselves working amongst and due to the excess volume of dust and other hazards,” recalls Graham.     
But according to a statement issued by Imperial Sugar, Graham left out all of the ongoing and planned safety improvements put in place to correct the problems.
“Projects focused on housekeeping efforts, electrical improvements, and other enhancements. The plant also increased the number and frequency of safety inspections.”
In emails provided by Imperial Sugar to WSAV, John Sheptor encouraged Graham in his efforts to correct the problems.
In one email, Graham himself wrote to Sheptor "the plants have made enormous improvements, especially in housekeeping."

Also at today's hearing -- the head of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Edward Foulke, and the Chairman of the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board.
The two were there to discuss whether OSHA should have more stringent standards in regards to combustible dust.
The Chemical Safety Board has been saying for the past two years OSHA needs to put specific combustible dust standards in place.
OSHA maintains they are doing what they can to mitigate the risks of combustible dust, but that in the end it falls on the employer to maintain a safe work place.