Category: Accidents

Accident Description
On December 19, 2007, four people were killed and 13 others were transported to the hospital when an explosion occured at T2 Laboratories Inc. during the production of a gasoline additive called methylcyclopentadienyl manganese tricarbonyl.

Investigation Status
The CSB final report was approved by the Board at a public meeting in Jacksonville, Florida, on 9/15/2009.        

Accident Description
On February 7, 2008, a huge explosion and fire occurred at the Imperial Sugar refinery northwest of Savannah, Georgia, causing 14 deaths and injuring 38 others, including 14 with serious and life-threatening burns. The explosion was fueled by massive accumulations of combustible sugar dust throughout the packaging building.

Investigation Status
The CSB’s final report was released at a public meeting in Savannah, GA on September 24, 2009.                  

Accident Description
On July 29, 2008, three workers died and a fourth was injured when an explosion occurred inside an 80-foot-tall storage tank at the Packaging Corporation of America (PCA) corrugated cardboard mill in Tomahawk, Wisconsin. The workers were on a catwalk above the tank and performing hot work (welding) at the time of the explosion. The storage tank held a mixture of recycled paper pulp and water which the CSB found decomposed to form flammable hydrogen.

Investigation Status
The CSB issued a hot work safety bulletin summarizing the key findings from the investigation at a news conference on March 4, 2010.         

Accident Description
Six workers were fatally injured during a planned work activity to clean debris from natural gas pipes at Kleen Energy in Middletown, CT. To remove the debris, workers used natural gas at a high pressure of approximately 650 pounds per square inch. The high velocity of the natural gas flow was intended to remove any debris in the new piping. During this process, the natural gas found an ignition source and exploded.

Investigation Status
The CSB’s final report was approved at a public meeting in Portland, CT, on June 28, 2010.         

Accident Description
On October 2, 2007, five people were killed and three others injured when a fire erupted 1,000 feet underground in a tunnel at Xcel Energy Company’s hydroelectric power plant in Georgetown, Colorado, located approximately 45 miles west of Denver. The fatally injured workers were trapped deep underground during an operation to coat the inside of the tunnel with epoxy using highly flammable solvents. The tunnel is several thousand feet long and connects two reservoirs with electricity-generating turbines.

Investigation Status
The CSB’s final report was released at a news conference on 8.25.2010 in Denver, CO.