Imperial Sugar CEO: Talks About Future & Potential Fines

It’s been almost six months since the deadly explosion at the Imperial Sugar Plant in Port Wentworth.

Thirteen people lost their lives that night and many others were severely burned, three of them remain at the Burn Center in Augusta.

In a 3 On Your Side follow up Alice Massimi sat down with the C.E.O. of Imperial Sugar today for a one-on-one interview.

For the Imperial Sugar family and while John Sheptor says the future looks bright, in the upcoming weeks there will be some bumps in the road.

The silos that burned for days have been torn down; in their place the rebuilding has begun.

C.E.O John Sheptor says a bad economy, potentially large fines from OSHA, and the specter of lawsuits will not change that.

“We are committed, we are looking at completing the rebuilding of this facility and restarting this operation and having decades of contributions to the local economy,” explains Sheptor.     

He expects that to happen by this time next year.  It will come with a price tag between 180 to 230 million dollars.

“The facility will be built, not only to the best practice standards of this country, but we have engaged expertise in the combustible dust area that will also bring into consideration international standards for combustible dust management.”

Before that happens there are obstacles to overcome.

This Friday, OSHA meets with Sheptor armed with the findings of their investigation.

“We expect that the citations and the allegations could be potentially severe.” 

Sheptor says there will be a thorough review and any citations they believe are unfair or exaggerated will certainly be contested.

“We share the same objective as OSHA, to have the safest work place possible for our employees, contractors and guests. We will all learn from this event unfortunately OSHA may look at this as a way of creating learning for others by bringing fines to this company.”  

Whatever happens, we all hope the events of February Seventh never happen again.

In addition to rebuilding parts of the plant the construction of a monument to honor the thirteen people who were killed the night of the explosion is also in the works.

Click here to watch more video from Sheptor's interview.