CLAIRTON, Pa. — “It was a gas leak alright,” Larry Evans told the Militant in Elizabeth, near the giant U.S. Steel Coke Works here, where a deadly explosion killed two union steelworkers and injured 10 others Aug. 11.
“They preach safety, but don’t stand by it, don’t back it up. It aggravates me,” Evans, who has 20-plus years as a crane operator at a United Steelworkers’ union-organized plant in nearby West Mifflin, said, describing the attitude of management. He said how the steel companies’ approach to safety is to blame the workers for anything that goes wrong. “We’re the ones that get written up, are given days off.”
We discussed how the United Mine Workers had a revolution in their union and built union safety committees with the power to shut production to control safety on the job. “If we stick together, we can be stronger as a union,” he said.
Socialist Workers Party campaigners going door to door in communities nearby the coke plant met many workers who worked industrial jobs, including current and former employees at the coke works.
Debbie Rondinelli, who works as a cleaner, was laid off from the U.S. Steel plant in the early 1980s. She said she was just blocks from the plant when the explosion occurred. She saw the cloud of smoke and dust from it. “We can’t put our faith in the companies, some of these coke batteries are very old,” she said, adding she hopes the new owners — Nippon Steel — “put some money into it.”
In the days since the explosion, more information has come out. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported U.S. Steel said it’s possible a gas valve failure may have led to the explosion, which happened during “preparation for planned maintenance.” Many workers told the paper the gas leak in the reversing room, the center of the blast, had been ignored.
Some workers we spoke to, including current and previous employees, still defended the company’s safety record. “Don’t listen to people who talk bad about the company,” one worker, who didn’t provide his name, said. “They follow the rules closely.”
Local media has interviewed workers and family members who were victims of explosions at the coke plant in 2009 and 2010.
“Clairton Coke Works might be one of the most dangerous places on Earth,” Brian Doyle, a steamfitters union member who had worked there, told the Tribune-Review. “It’s essentially a bomb.” He said he remembers being hurled to the floor by the 2010 explosion.
“There was no question in both of those cases we established that appropriate safety protocols weren’t followed, and that’s what led to the explosions,” John Gismondi, a lawyer who represented workers affected by the two explosions, told The Associated Press. In the 2010 case, Gismondi’s clients said managers directed them to repair a live line even after an alarm went off warning of high levels of natural gas.
After the 2010 explosion, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration fined U.S. Steel and a subcontractor in the mill $175,000 for safety violations. U.S. Steel appealed, and the fines were reduced.