Carus fined $15,191 for 2 OSHA violations related to Jan. 11 fire

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited Carus LLC for two violations – one considered serious – dating back to the Jan. 11 fire in La Salle, fining the company $15,191.

The agency said Carus failed to provide employees with non-combustible materials for use in storage and handling of potassium permanganate, a class 2 oxidizer. The agency said employees were exposed to fire hazards due to an oxidizer coming into contact with combustible materials.

According to the OSHA report, the fire resulted in a worker having an inhalation-related injury.

Carus has filed a “notice of contest” disputing OSHA’s findings.

During the loading of granular potassium permanganate packaged in a flexible intermediate bulk container (called a SuperSak) into a shipping container, the SuperSak ripped, spilling potassium permanganate onto the cardboard and wooden pallet on which the load was set, according to the OSHA report. The damaged load was then moved by the forklift in the dock area of the warehouse and placed on cardboard material. The damaged load was moved with the cardboard material under the wooden pallet and repositioned into the warehouse. Smoke was generated from the area of the load, before a fire started that rapidly spread to and consumed other oxidizing products and related combustible storage materials. This resulted in a catastrophic fire that destroyed the warehouse and resulted in the worker’s injury.

This citation was considered serious and warranted a $14,063 fine from OSHA.

Carus also was fined $1,128 for a citation labeled only “hazard communication.”

The company is required to provide an abatement plan by Aug. 14 for the serious citation and Aug. 25 for the other citation. Packaging operators and shipping clerks package and handle potassium permanganate, which is used to treat drinking water, daily, OSHA said in its report.

Carus said it is contesting the findings.

“As we’ve stated previously, Carus is a chemical manufacturer, and as such, is closely regulated by government agencies, including OSHA,” said Lyndsay Bliss, vice president of human resources, in a statement from Carus. “We have the utmost respect for their role in keeping people in the workplace safe from harm. The practices we use at Carus are common across the entire chemical industry.”

With that said, Carus said it is taking the citations “very seriously.”

“We have been operating at the same location, manufacturing the same product for 100-plus years,” Bliss said. “This unfortunate event was the result of a series of events that occurred simultaneously to cause the fire. We are taking steps to ensure this never happens again by building a state-of-the-art warehouse to further enhance our commitment to workplace and community safety.”

Carus hired a third-party consultant to investigate the fire and released a report in March.

In that report, the warehouse team cleaned up the spilled material and moved the damaged Supersak to a separate location, which was following normal protocols, the company said. As the damaged Supersak was being moved, friction caused by the forklift truck moving the support pallet likely ignited the material underneath the pallet, the company said. The company did not say what the material underneath the pallet was at the time.

The fire led residents to shelter in place and released an oxidant onto homes, cars, mailboxes and other property, causing damage to neighborhoods surrounding the plant. To date, there have been 124 insurance claims (72 settled/paid, 20 offers have been made, 11 rejected, 16 active, five denied), the company said.

The Illinois State Fire Marshal classified the fire as undetermined in nature with no criminal activity suspected. The fire marshal said it was unable to enter the area of origin because it was considered a HAZMAT situation.

La Salle resident Jamie Hicks brought the OSHA citations to the La Salle City Council’s attention on Monday, sharing the information with them and asking the council to hold the company accountable.

Potassium permanganate now is stored at the La Salle plant and at a warehouse in South Towne Mall in Ottawa, the company said recently.

Carus said it will share more information with the community as it becomes available.