Chemical Safety Board Public Meeting on Imperial Sugar Report

SAVANNAH, Ga.—The U.S. Chemical Safety Board held a meeting in downtown Savannah Thursday night to present the findings to the public and take public comments on the report.

After 19 months of investigation, the CSB concluded the accident that killed 14 people and injured 36 others at the Imperial Sugar refinery could have been prevented.

“The sugar dust contacted a nearby ignition source, likely an overheated bearing, and exploded,“ said the narrator of a 4 minute animation showing what investigators believe led to the accident.

“All fatalities most likely resulted from secondary explosions and fires,“ said CSB investigator Lucy Sciallo.

About 100 people came to the presentation at the Hilton Savannah DeSoto. Some of the injured and family members of the victims attended, some wiping away tears as they listened.

“We waited long enough to get a ruling, and we got a ruling, so that’s bringing us halfway at peace, but we still got a long way to go,“ said Tawanna Butler.  Her husband John died in the accident.

After the presentation, the only public comment came from Imperial Sugar.

“Our company has fully adopted the recommendations directed at Imperial Sugar made by the CSB in the final report. While some projects relating to the recommendations have not been fully completed during the rebuilding process at Port Wentworth, we are confident that we will meet or exceed all of the recommendations prior to the operations being fully resumed,“ said Ralph Clements, vice president of manufacturing for Imperial.

The Chemical Safety Board voted unanimously to approve the report. The board added a recommendation for OSAH to act “expeditiously” with regulations for combustible dust, but union representatives say that’s not enough.

“Rather than recommending a real change that could have happened right away like an emergency temporary standard, the board instead made a cynical public relations move and just chose to throw a few meaningless words out there,“ said Evan Yeats from the United Food & Commercial Workers International Union.

The CSB report included safety recommendations for Imperial, industry groups and OSHA.  OSHA announced in April it would start developing comprehensive rules on combustible dust.

View the full report here.

Statement from Imperial Sugar
Imperial Sugar Responds to the Chemical Safety Board’s Investigation Report

Port Wentworth, GA – On September 24, 2009, the Chemical Safety Board (CSB) issued its final draft Investigation Report regarding Imperial Sugar Company’s February 7, 2008 accident at its Port Wentworth sugar refinery.

“Imperial Sugar and the CSB have collaborated throughout their investigation,” said CEO and President John Sheptor.  “We appreciate their professionalism and we value their contributions to our combustible dust and safety program.  We have worked very hard to make our facilities the safest possible, and will continue to share what we have learned and will learn with the CSB and industry.“

Included in the CSB’s final report are five recommendations to Imperial. “The CSB recommendations are excellent guidance for the control and management of combustible dust.  Imperial accepts the CSB recommendations and is working diligently to implement them as part of our safety improvement initiatives.  We have listened to the CSB and other experts during the past twenty months and used their guidance in the reduction of risk in all of our operating sites.  We hope that all companies that share the risk of combustible dust also will heed the insights of this report,” said Sheptor. 

Sheptor added, “We continue to be grateful for the support the Company and its employees have received from the Savannah-area communities throughout our rebuilding process.  We also look forward to future collaborations with the CSB and others to advance safety, both at Imperial Sugar and within our industry.”