Dupont’s La Porte, Texas Plant With Fatal Gas Leak that Killed 4 Workers Had Been Cited For Infractions
A
DuPont and Co pesticide plant where four people died in a gas leak in November
had been cited for emissions violations by a state agency on several occasions
before the accident.
The Houston
Chronicle cited public records it obtained as showing that DuPont reported
regular malfunctions with a multimillion-dollar exhaust and ventilation system
inside its La Porte, Texas, pesticide plant that exposed workers to potentially
dangerous fumes well before the deadly accident. A story appeared in the
newspaper that revealed the damaging information.
Despite
reports made to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality in 2009 and 2010
regarding the faulty equipment, there was no investigation by the U.S.
Occupational Safety and Health Administration. According to written
congressional committee testimony by U.S. Chemical Safety Board Chairman Rafael
Moure-Eraso, which was obtained by the paper, maintenance work at the facility
was done without the use of respirators.
The
four workers who died were “accidentally asphyxiated by chemicals,” the local
coroner’s office said in November in a finding that suggested the victims were
not wearing full safety equipment.
It was reported that the workers were
overcome by methyl mercaptan, a chemical used to give natural gas its
rotten-egg smell and for making insecticides and plastics. Families of the
victims have filed lawsuits against DuPont.
It
appears that the plant, located in a cluster of refineries and chemical plants
25 miles from downtown Houston, had a history of environmental infractions.
But
interestingly, it had no record of safety violations, according to information
available from OSHA and the Chemical Safety Board. Accidents at four other
DuPont facilities have been investigated by the Board.
Those include a 2010
phosgene release at a plant in Belle, W. Va., that killed one person and an
accident that same year at a facility outside of Buffalo, N.Y., that killed a
worker.
Sources:
Insurance Journal and The Houston Chronicle