Commission recommends new oversight of explosives industry

The Commission on Workplace Safety and Community Protection will hold a public hearing on Wednesday to finalize its recommendations before submitting them to Gov. Bob Miller.

Miller formed the commission to review state laws and regulations following the powerful blast at the Sierra Chemical Co. plant in Mustang that killed four workers and injured six.

The explosion 12 miles east of Reno left a crater 40 feet wide and 6 feet deep, broke windows a mile away and shook seismic needles at the University of Nevada, Reno.

Among other things, a preliminary report from the commission recommends that state law require workers to receive training in the language they understand and stricter inspection procedures.

The panel also recommends restricting the locations of explosives manufacturing companies.

Similar concerns were by a federal chemical safety board, which held its own hearing on the blast in April.

Earlier this month, the state Division of Industrial Relations fined the company nearly $1 million for numerous safety violations. The company is appealing.

Investigators have said the most probable cause of the explosion was a worker who turned on a motor for a mixing blade, unaware that an explosive mix had been left in a melting pot from the night before.

They cited limited technical knowledge on the part of the workers regarding explosive safety. All of the workers at the plant were Hispanic and few spoke English, but the plant's safety and operations manuals were available only in English.

Investigators also said workers were paid based on the amount of soda-can-sized explosive booster canisters they filled each shift, and were encouraged to adjust procedures as they saw fit to maximize production.

But experts hired by Sierra Chemical maintain that the explosion was the result of sabotage and not unsafe working conditions.

A report by Joe Beard of Forensic Engineering in Sparks and Herbert Kolodner of Knott Laboratory in Denver, said the blast was deliberately triggered to hide the theft of explosives.

In a 75-page report sent to the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board, the two disputed the findings of federal and state investigators who said the blast resulted from untrained workers and a lack of management oversight.

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