The families of the five people killed in the Formosa Plastics plant explosion nearly two years ago, along with at least two survivors, filed wrongful death and premises liability lawsuits alleging that unsafe conditions and negligence played a role in the tragedy.
The lawsuits contend that contractors failed to turn back on the plant's deluge system after working on it earlier the day of the explosion. Other safety measures also failed, and Borden Chemical, which formerly owned the plant, used defective equipment that allowed a chemical leak to occur.
The families of the five who died along with 3 workers who were badly burned in the explosion filed wrongful death and negligence lawsuits in March 2006.
Formosa Plastics owned the plant at the time of the explosion and still does, but the company is not named in the lawsuits.
Instead, damages are sought from a variety of other companies: F.E. Moran, Bacharach, Borden Chemical., Kelly Construction, Automated Sprinkler Corporation of America, ATO Inc., Monitor Lab, Figgie International, Scott Technologies, Hexion Specialty Chemicals, Egizii Electric, Lear Siegler Measurement Controls, and Teledyne Monitor Labs.
According to the wrongful death and negligence lawsuits, about 15,000 pounds of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) spilled from a reactor in a section of the north reactor building. The large scale sprinkler system (deluge system) should have been triggered by a release of only 58 pounds of PVC.
The deluge system did not respond to the PVC release, and that section of the plant exploded moments later.
The lawsuits further states that:
- F.E. Moran inspected the plant's deluge system in November 2003. The lawsuits say the company negligently performed the inspection, repairs, testing, and maintenance to the system.
- Egizii Electric was doing electrical work to the deluge system in the area the day the explosion happened. The work required the deluge system to be blocked out.
- Bacharach worked on the gas analyzer system, which is part of the deluge system, and alarms should have sounded in the north portion of the plant when the gas was detected. The lawsuits say maintenance performed by Bacharach was faulty.
- Lear Siegler Measurement Controls sold an unsafe gas sensor unit that was part of the safety system in the area where the explosion occurred.
- Kelly Construction was doing welding in the same area the day of the accident. The lawsuits say Kelly did not turn the deluge system back on, and workers did not tell anyone from Formosa the work was done so the system could be turned back on.
- Automatic Sprinkler Corporation (ATO), Figgie International, and Scott Technologies sold the deluge system to Borden, the former owner of the plant. The lawsuits say the system Borden purchased was defective and faulty.
- Borden Chemical designed and installed changes in the reactors in 1997. The changes were made to the bottom valves of the reactors and allowed the chemical leak to occur the day of the explosion. The suits say Borden failed to tell Formosa of the changes prior to selling the plant to them.
Reference:
"Victims' families file lawsuits," s-jr.com, Sarah Antonacci and Chris Dettro, March 2006.
