Pollution
Humain
Environnement
Economique

In a 2.8-ha acoustic and thermal insulation factory employing a workforce of 561, a series of explosions with fireballs occurred around 7:30 am on a production line partially idle and undergoing cleaning.

Traffic was halted on adjacent thoroughfares for 1 hour, the time it took to eliminate all potential toxicity risks related to smoke from the fire; neighbours in a 800 m radius were evacuated until the end of the afternoon. Among the 150 employees present, the toll was heavy: 44 injuries, including 11 in critical condition, with burns to over 80% of their body for some. 7 of these injured would die in the following weeks. Nearly all of the production building was destroyed.

The ongoing cleaning operation, which had been using compressed air, led to dispersing a thick phenolic resin dust cloud all along the production line. This cloud ignited around an oven, resulting in an explosion and fireball than then spread over more than 100 m down the line.

The Chemical Safety Board (CSB) noted many aggravating factors, namely:

  • design of the building and its subsequent modifications did not take into account the risks of fire and explosion tied to combustible dusts (inadequate fire protection and explosion resistant walls);
  • no efficient measures for avoiding dust explosions had been studied or implemented;
  • production line cleaning and maintenance procedures did not prevent dust from accumulating at hazardous levels (up to 10 or 15 cm!) on the upper flat surfaces;
  • no feedback experience had been drawn from several incidents, including oven fires, ventilation problems and on-site dust removal, during the previous months, nor was it drawn from a similar phenolic resin dust explosion on 25th Feb 1999 in the state of Massachusetts;
  • employees were inadequately trained in risk management, especially involving a phenolic resin dust explosion;
  • the electrical installations were not stationary (use of power cords);
  • since gas oven temperature controls were not operational, employees left the oven door open to avoid overheating.

A USD 49,000 fine was requested by the Labour Inspection Office for failing to comply with worker health and safety regulations.

The factory operator built a new facility in the same city at a price tag of USD 56 million; operations resumed in 2004 with 300 employees.