Explosion of the Imperial Sugar refinery
The Imperial Sugar refinery explosion occurred at around 7:15 pm on February 7, 2008 at one of the largest sugar refineries in the United States in Port Wentworth , Georgia . A series of sugar dust explosions killed 14 workers and 36 others were injured, some seriously. The original explosion occurred in the center of the refinery below the sugar silos . This whirled up sugar in other areas of the refinery, which triggered subsequent explosions. The force of the explosions and the subsequent fires destroyed the buildings for sugar packaging, the palletizing room and the sugar silos and severely damaged the train loading stations and large parts of the sugar production facility.
The incident has been investigated by several US authorities. The US Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) released a report on the incident in September 2009, stating that the explosion was completely preventable. Justice Department investigations have ruled out an intentional crime.
background
The Port Wentworth factory was built in 1916 and had been in operation for 92 years at the time of the explosion. It was built on an area of about 600,000 square feet on the banks of the Savannah River and in 2007 produced about 1,500,000 tons of sugar. Production covered about 9% of the United States' total sugar needs. The raw sugar was delivered by ship. The refining process consisted of nine stages, and the end product was cane sugar . The facility has been operated since 1997 by Imperial Sugar , a major US sugar producer and marketer based in Sugar Land , Texas.
The employees described the sugar refinery as outdated, but with good connections to rail and shipping. In 2007, the facility refined approximately 1.45 million tons of sugar.
The CSB published a study on the risks of dust explosions in 2004. Accordingly, between 1980 and 2005 there had been 281 dust explosions in the United States, in which 119 people were killed and 718 injured. The CSB then made a series of recommendations to the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).
Web links
- CSB video of the explosion , 9:29 min.