Family of Deceased Reacts to Imperial Sugar OSHA Report

The news is hitting those who were injured in the explosion or lost a loved one very hard.

News Three's Alice Massimi was at the news conference today and sat down with the daughter of one of the deceased.

“Very familiar oriented he embraces everybody gives them their shirt off their back silly center of attraction that's Earl Johnson,” recalls Latacia Johnson-Bynes.

A loving father and grandfather, Earl Johnson was filling in for a friend the night of the explosion. One of thirteen killed, Johnson had worked in at the refinery for more than nine years.

“My children went there everyday after school we would see him everyday now I pass by an empty house everyday,” Latacia says through tears.

News that OSHA has come down hard on the company her father worked for for so many years created a mix of emotions.

“It gives us some kind of closure but it doesn't bring my father back, my children's grandfather back,” says Latacia.

Filled with sadness and anger, Latacia was shocked to hear about the working conditions the OSHA report describes, the conditions her father labored under.

“I think it is terrible. It is awful; I can’t explain in words what I feel about it. It’s terrible; it’s awful to have someone working in a time bomb.”

Promising to hold the party responsible for the death of her father, Latacia has hired Attorney Mark Tate.

“It devastated these families in this community not by accident, it wasn't an act of God, this was an act of stupidity and negligence,” says Tate.

“I wouldn't want anything like this to happen to anyone, it’s terrible,” says Latacia.

Imperial Sugar has already filed a “notice of no contest.”

Under it they call into question the allegations of the citations, the characterization of the violations and the penalties proposed.

Now because they are contesting the report, there are two ways this can go... They can have an informal conference with OSHA which could result in an informal resolution of the case or it can go on to litigation.

In the meantime Imperial Sugar is not legally required to fix the items.

I spoke with C.E.O. John Sheptor earlier this week and he says Imperial Sugar is still committed to rebuilding and providing a safe workplace for their employees.

For more on Alice's interview with Latacia, click here.