WAOW - Newsline 9, Wausau News, Weather, SportsU.S. Chemical Safety Board says PCA explosion was preventable

U.S. Chemical Safety Board says PCA explosion was preventable

by Colby Robertson

WESTON (WAOW) -- The investigation into a fatal welding accident in Tomahawk sparks concern over current worker safety regulations.

The 2008 explosion at Packaging Corporation of America (PCA) in Tomahawk that left three workers dead.

Representatives from PCA say they had no idea a flammable gas was inside the storage tank. The U.S. Chemical Safety Board determined flammable gas monitoring devices would have alerted PCA workers to the dangerous work conditions and prevented the accident.

It's been nearly two years since the fatal explosion at Packaging Corporation of America. Workers welding above this 80-foot-tall storage tank were unaware it was full of highly flammable hydrogen gas.

President of Steelworkers Union at PCA, Kevin Koth says, "We are reminded again today that work place safety comes at a tragic cost in this case were the lives of three good men.."

At PCA no flammable gas monitoring was used the day of the explosion, but OSHA standards don't require monitoring. Since the 2008 accident PCA has taken the problem into their own hands, purchasing a number of portable monitors to make sure there are no fatalities in the future.

U.S. Chemical Safety Board Investigator Donald Holmstrom says, "We believe it's important that a combustible gas detector be used to give prior warnings about the formation of a flammable atmosphere."

During this news conference, the CSB addressed the Tomahawk investigation and nearly a dozen similar accidents; all preventable if combustible gas detectors had been used.

Donald Holmstrom says, "If there had been knowledge the flammable atmosphere had been present and combustible gas detectors used appropriately in the appropriate locations that would have provided advance warning to the workers in this incidence and other incidents to prevent these accidents from occurring."

The CSB will send out a complete report on the investigation early this summer.

Online Reporter: Colby Robertson