Kaiser Aluminum Faces $533,000 Penalty

March 16, 2000
The company considers the amount to be inappropriate and will challenge MSHA's proposed fines.

Kaiser Aluminum and Chemical Corp. has known for several weeks that it has been cited for more than 20 violations of federal mine safety regulations stemming from the July 5 explosion that injured 29 workers at its Gramercy, La., plant.

The company, though, did not find out until this week that the cost of those 23 citations levied by the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) totals $533,000.

"This accident points to the importance of management and employees working together to ensure that relief systems are in good working condition," said Davitt McAteer, assistant secretary of labor for mine safety and health.

Kaiser noted that the proposed MSHA penalty is about half of the statutory maximum. Nonetheless, the company considers the amount to be inappropriate and is confident the proposed penalty will be rejected by the courts. Only an assigned federal administrative law judge has the statutory authority to assess an actual penalty, and it will be based first on the validity or invalidity of the MSHA citations against Kaiser, and then on the degree of fault and seriousness, if any, found by the judge.

The company has already challenged the citations upon which the penalty is based and will challenge the penalty as well, consolidating the cases before Administrative Law Judge Melick of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission. Depositions are scheduled to start this week, and the company is waiting for MSHA's response to written questions and document requests.

In the MSHA investigative report on the Kaiser explosion issued last month, the agency concluded that excessive pressure in several large tanks caused the powerful blast that rocked the plant and the surrounding community. In the report, MSHA said management's failure to identify and correct hazardous conditions and unsafe practices directly contributed to the early morning explosion. The agency had announced in early January that Kaiser had been cited for 21 violations of federal mine safety regulations relating to the accident. Those citations, along with two others issued afterward, were assessed civil penalties Wednesday.

Seven violations cited by MSHA investigators were determined to have directly contributed to the cause of the blast and were assessed the maximum penalty of $55,000 each. MSHA determined that these violations constituted more than ordinary negligence and were an unwarrantable failure on the part of Kaiser management to comply with mandatory safety standards.

"The overall lesson learned from this accident is the need to conduct emergency drills regularly as a means for keeping all fall-back systems operative," McAteer said.

In addition, MSHA assessed Kaiser $100,000 in fines for multiple instances of interfering with the progress of the investigation. Investigators issued one of those citations when Kaiser entered a restricted area and removed, deleted or modified electronically stored data without MSHA's permission or knowledge. That violation drew a $25,000 civil penalty.

The remaining citations were issued for violations that did not directly contribute to the explosion and were assessed lower penalties of less than $10,000 each.

For more information, read occupationalhazards.com's Jan. 11 news item "MSHA Issues 21 Citations Against Aluminum Plant" and the Feb. 9 story "Kaiser at Fault in Gramercy Explosion." The full report of MSHA's investigation into the Kaiser explosion is available from the agency's home page on the Internet at www.msha.gov/minefire/gramercy/gramercyhp.htm.

About the Author

EHS Today Staff

EHS Today's editorial staff includes:

Dave Blanchard, Editor-in-Chief: During his career Dave has led the editorial management of many of Endeavor Business Media's best-known brands, including IndustryWeekEHS Today, Material Handling & LogisticsLogistics Today, Supply Chain Technology News, and Business Finance. In addition, he serves as senior content director of the annual Safety Leadership Conference. With over 30 years of B2B media experience, Dave literally wrote the book on supply chain management, Supply Chain Management Best Practices (John Wiley & Sons, 2021), which has been translated into several languages and is currently in its third edition. He is a frequent speaker and moderator at major trade shows and conferences, and has won numerous awards for writing and editing. He is a voting member of the jury of the Logistics Hall of Fame, and is a graduate of Northern Illinois University.

Adrienne Selko, Senior Editor: In addition to her roles with EHS Today and the Safety Leadership Conference, Adrienne is also a senior editor at IndustryWeek and has written about many topics, with her current focus on workforce development strategies. She is also a senior editor at Material Handling & Logistics. Previously she was in corporate communications at a medical manufacturing company as well as a large regional bank. She is the author of Do I Have to Wear Garlic Around My Neck?, which made the Cleveland Plain Dealer's best sellers list.

Nicole Stempak, Managing Editor:  Nicole Stempak is managing editor of EHS Today and conference content manager of the Safety Leadership Conference.

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