Vol. 72/No. 8      February 25, 2008

Three days later, 17 of those hospitalized are in medically induced comas with severe burns. Three others remain hospitalized.

“There was fire all over the building,” said Nakishya Hill, a machine operator who escaped from the third floor of the refinery. “I heard a loud boom and everything came down. When I got up, I went down and found a couple of people and we climbed out of there from the third floor to the first floor. Half of the floor was gone. The second floor was debris, the first floor was debris.”

About 100 people were working in the area of the explosion when it took place. According to Imperial Sugar CEO John Sheptor, the plant had 450 employees.

Imperial Sugar acquired Savannah Foods & Industries, the producer of Dixie Crystals, in 1997. The company doubled in size, becoming the largest processor and refiner of sugar in the United States, according to its website. Imperial Sugar made more than $235 million in gross profits during 2006 and 2007.  
 
‘Antiquated’ construction
The plant first opened in 1917. Fire officials said original tongue-and-groove woodwork and other materials dating back 90 years helped fuel the blaze.

The water pressure was weak when firefighters arrived. Capt. Matt Stanley, spokesman for Savannah Fire and Emergency Services, said he thought the refinery’s “antiquated” water system was to blame.

Parts of the refinery were still burning three days after the explosion. Search and rescue crews had not yet searched the areas of the refinery that were still on fire and where the buildings were considered highly unstable.

“As far as we know it was a sugar dust explosion,” Sheptor said the day after the explosion. He said the blast occurred in a storage silo where refined sugar is stored until it is packaged.

Sugar dust is combustible. Static electricity, sparks from metal tools, or a cigarette can ignite explosions. According to a 2003 study by the United States Chemical Safety Board, there are no federal standards for controlling the risk of dust explosions in many industries, although rules exist for grain-handling facilities.

More than 300 dust explosions killed more than 120 workers in grain silos, sugar plants, and food-processing plants in the last three decades. Such accidents can be prevented by cleaning up fine dust as it accumulates.

In an effort to obscure the company’s responsibility for the blast, Savannah-Chatham County police chief Michael Berkow said at a February 9 press briefing, “we are transitioning from a fire fighting, rescue and recovery operation to a criminal investigation.” Sheptor spoke at the briefing but made no comment about the cause of the explosion.

“We are going to interview workers who were there that night,” said Alan Shuman from the Georgia Fire Marshal’s Office. “When we have an operation this big, we want to rule out anything that could be foul play or anything unnatural that could have occurred.” Shuman said that “there is no indication of any criminal activity.”  
 
Workers cope with disaster
“It’s just shocking to me to really see it, to walk in and see them like that—how bad they were, their faces, hands, arms, their whole bodies,” said Hallie Capers, whose nephews John and Jamie Butler were both badly burned in the explosion. Dr. Jeff Mullins said the victims in critical condition “could be in the hospital for six-plus months.”

“It was like walking into hell,” Joyce Baker, a Red Cross first aid instructor, said. “We had approximately 13 men who were coming out and they were burned, third-degree burns on their upper bodies. And they were trying to sit down and the only thing that they wanted was to know was where the friends were.”

Douglas Milton, who works in the packaging area where the blast was centered, said he’s been unable to reach several co-workers who were in the plant the night of the explosion. “Some guys on my floor, I haven’t heard anything about them,” said Milton, 37, who’s been at the refinery for seven years. “I’ve been calling a lot of their cell phone numbers but I’m not getting any answers.”
 
 
Related articles:
Number of packinghouse workers diagnosed with neurological disease grows
Sweden: iron miner working 2,300 feet below ground killed
No worker has to die on the job!  
 
 
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