GRUBVILLE • The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited Global Pyrotechnic Solutions Inc., a Grubville fireworks manufacturer, for 31 safety violations and has proposed a $116,900 fine after three workers suffered burns in an explosion on March 6.
Two workers were treated for serious burns and released after the explosion at the Jefferson County factory. The third suffered third-degree burns and was hospitalized about 20 days, OSHA said.
The violations included 25 classified as serious. They include the improper handling of explosives and storage of flammable liquids, as well as a lack of ventilation in rooms where the liquids are used and not training workers on emergency shutdown procedures, OSHA said.
The six less-serious violations included a lack of explosives warning signs on storage buildings and transport vehicles, and using trucks not appropriate for transporting explosives.
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Global Pyrotechnic Solutions Inc. has 20 employees. Efforts on Wednesday to reach a company representative for comment were not successful.
Global was incorporated in 2003, and some of its founders have ties to Pyro Products and Sunset Fireworks.
Sunset Fireworks, founded by Gerald Walker in his garage in Sunset Hills more than 40 years ago, was one of the nation's most prominent pyrotechnics companies until it and its sister company, Pyro Products Inc., experienced a series of explosions beginning in 1999. Neither company is now in business.
A blast on July 2, 2003, in Bonita Springs, Fla., killed five Sunset Fireworks employees who were helping stage Independence Day displays in Bonita Springs and in Naples, Fla.
Hundreds of investigators from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the FBI and the state of Florida searched the wreckage for the cause of the deadly explosion, but found none.
In 2004, the founder's son, Ronald Walker, former president of Pyro Products, and his wife, Kim Walker, pleaded guilty in federal court in 51ºÚÁÏ to conspiring to handle explosive materials illegally. They were sentenced to spend 13 months each in prison and to pay a $3,000 fine.
Pyro Products agreed to surrender its license to make explosives.
OSHA had cited Pyro Products for allegedly violating four safety rules leading to an explosion that injured three women at the Grubville plant in June 2001. That blast marked the third accident at the plant in less than three years.
Explosions in 1999 and 2000 killed two women and injured two others. Pyro Products negotiated settlements with OSHA for those two fatal incidents.
