A tank at a packaging plant exploded in DeRidder yesterday, killing three contractors and injuring at least seven, according to State Police and several news sites.
The explosion happened around 11 a.m. at the Packaging Corporation of America, an old paper mill, said Chief Deputy Joe Toler of the Beauregard Sheriff's Office.
Three men, all contractors, are confirmed dead, a PCA statement confirms. An unaccounted for person reported earlier has been located and is safe. State police have confirmed that there are six minor injuries and one moderate injury after the explosion.
Contractors were working on the tank that exploded, and at least some of the people who died were contractors, a state police spokesman said. However, he said he wasn't able to say how many of the men killed were contractors and how many were plant employees.
PCA issued a statement late Wednesday:
"At approximately 11:10 am CST, Wednesday, February 8th, there was an explosion at our DeRidder, LA paper mill. The incident involved annual repair work being performed on piping in the pulp mill area and resulted in three contractor fatalities. The cause of the incident is under investigation.
Our primary concern is for the safety and well-being of the people working on our site. The top priorities at this time are the notification of families of the deceased contractors and investigation of the incident with authorities."
The U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) announced that a three-person investigation team from the board is deploying to the scene.
“The CSB has investigated many hot work accidents across the country, including a 2008 explosion that killed three workers at a different PCA plant in Tomahawk, Wisconsin.” said Chairperson Vanessa Sutherland. “Hot work incidents are one of the most common causes of worker deaths we see at the CSB, but also one of the most readily preventable.”
Following the deadly 2008 explosion at the PCA plant in Wisconsin, the CSB issued a safety bulletin on the hazards of welding and other hot work entitled “Seven Key Lessons to Prevent Worker Deaths during Hot Work In and Around Tanks.” The agency also released a safety video called “Dangers of Hot Work,” which presents the findings from that bulletin.
Chairperson Sutherland said, “The CSB continues to be concerned about the frequency of dangerous hot work incidents and has added safe hot work practices to the agency’s Drivers of Critical Chemical Safety Change Program, a list of key chemical safety advocacy initiatives.”
