On May 3, 2008 a 12-story boiler exploded in International Paper Co.'s Redwood plant. The explosion happened during an attempt to restart the boiler after its annual maintenance. The plant cooks fiber to make liner board, which is used for manufacturing corrugated containers.
28-year-old Marcus Christopher Broome was killed in the explosion and 22 other employees were injured with severe burns. International Paper Co. and two brothers, Terry and Kenneth Townsend , have until this Friday to submit proposals to settle a federal lawsuit. Kenneth Townsend, who was burned over 60 percent of his body, said in an e-mail that workers should have been cleared from the area before the boiler was restarted. International Paper Co acknowledged that the boiler had been shut down for maintenance, there was an explosion and the company knew workers would be present that day. In response to the lawsuit filed last year, the company argued that workers "may have failed to exercise reasonable care for their own safety" and "IP is immune from common law liability." OSHA's report revealed that it is "normal practice for contractors to work during start-up/shut-down."
Following the explosion, OSHA conducted an investigation and cited International Paper Co. $77,000 for one alleged willful violation and one alleged serious violation. The company is appealing the alleged violation. The willful violation was starting the boiler without adequate steam and not developing safe procedures to start it up when the primary power boiler is offline. The serious violation was failing to have written procedures to determine that an adequate amount of odorant was being added to the natural gas supply line.
Sources:
Mohr, Holbrook. "Settlement proposals due in IP mill explosion suit." The Columbus Dispatch. Associated Press, 7 Sept. 2009. Web. 9 Sept. 2009.
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