Sugar one of the most important materials in human history, such is its influence on mankind
that it has been implicated in blight of obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and tooth decay.
Refined sugar being bad for your health is a bit of a given nowadays,
but not always the way that you think, especially if you work in a sugar refinery.
Much like grain and flour, sugar is susceptible to dust explosions,
and it is the driving force behind a disaster in 2008 in Port Wentworth, Georgia,
which would result in 14 worker fatalities.
My name is John and Today we are looking at the Imperial Sugar explosion.
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The sugar refinery
It is December 1997 and the imperial sugar company is acquiring a new
production site at Port Wentworth from Savannah Foods and Industries, Inc.
There is nothing really of note here imperial sugar had been in business since 1924 and it
was doing what businesses do and that is acquiring to expand.
The site has been home to food production and processing
since the early 1900s, Savannah industries inc began construction
of granulated sugar production facilities at port wentworth during the 1910s being complete in 1917.
Over the years production capacity would be added culminating in its final arrangement
with multiple screw and bucket conveyors all for storing the sugar granules in 3 large silos.
Each silo was 40-foot in diameter, and
105-foot tall constructed from concrete and sat atop a foundation in the packing building floor,
below was a. 130 foot long tunnel used for conveyor belts.
Each silo has a capacity of 5 million pounds.
The screws and bucket conveyor system was originally intended to be fully enclosed
to prevent escape of dust which as we know from my video on the Debruce grain explosion
can be pretty deadly.
The factory production facilities received raw sugar and refined it into granulated sugar.
Once refined it was transferred via screws, and conveyor belts to the top of silo 3.
From here it is fed to the other 2 silos via a belt
which discharged the sugar into an elevator pit.
This pit fed a bucket conveyor which took the sugar to a penthouse
and from there multiple belt conveyors to the other silos.
When needed 18 inch holes are opened in the base of the silos and the sugar is
then transported to the powdered sugar mills, the packaging equipment, or the bulk sugar building.
The imperial sugar facility has large open work areas,
but little thought during its operation is given to dust build up.
As such no dust extraction system is in operation
and dust accumulated on overhead conduits, piping, ceiling beams, lights, and equipment.
The site has two packing areas each 4 stories tall and were named the Bosch and south buildings.
The equipment in the packing areas filled paper bags with sugar,
like the type you may find in your cupboard.
The machines had protective glass to prevent
workers from getting caught in the moving parts but still
allowed inspection and There was vacuum ductwork provided to remove some dust from the machinery.
On the 4th floor there was also a sugar powder facility.
Sugar powder in dangerous situations was a daily part of working life at imperial,
Spillages were common requiring regular clean up.
Aswell as a constant generation of dust from packing
the supposedly sealed conveyor screws also allowed deadly dust to propagate around the facility.
All of this meant that a disaster was inevitable.
The Disaster
It is the evening of February the 7th 2008
and imperial sugar is welcoming its ceo for a tour of the facility.
There are 4 people in this tour group and nothing out of the ordinary has been seen so far,
but at approximately 7:15 pm this would change.
A loud bang started the group as they walked through the south packing building,
which would later be described as “ a heavy
roll of packing material dropped from a forklift somewhere nearby”.
Just a few seconds later they were blown off their feet as debris blew through the building.
Flames blew out the roof and the concrete floors of the south building,
as it buckled explosions spread throughout the different areas of the facility.
Intense fireballs ripped through the entire north and south packing and palletizer buildings.
sugar dust, shaken loose from overhead surfaces from the explosions,
ignited intensifying the fires.
Workers were pummeled with equipment and debris as the heat of the fireball burnt any exposed flesh.
Escape proved to be difficult as smoke obscured the passages of escape.
Several exits were blocked by fallen brickwork further hindering any chance of safety
Heat traveled up the enclosed conveyor screws igniting more powdered sugar
eventually spreading the series of explosions back to the south packing building.
In total the fireball and explosions would continue for 15 minutes.
Before the last explosions emergency workers were on the scene, but they
were confronted with thick smoke flames and a partially demolished facility.
As soon as they could, the first responders started working towards recovery of victims.
Some of the staff had already started rescue and recovery work helping out
some of the injured taking the worst burnt to a makeshift triage at the facility gate house.
Smouldering would continue for a week after the initial explosions, 9 local and state
organisations helped with the rescue efforts, but sadly the disaster would result in fatalities.
8 workers died at the facility during the explosions
and another 4 would die later in hospital from severe burns.
36 would require medical attention with several receiving life changing injuries.
With millions of dollars of damage and 15 dead one question loomed:
Why did imperial sugar experience such a catastrophic explosion.
Dust explosions have been a known risk to sugar production
going back to way before the turn of the century, imperial sugar was even aware since 1925.———
In a 1961 internal memo the need for proper cleanliness and dust suppression was highlighted.
However proper collection and disposal of dust requires a fair amount of man hours and thus cost.
Needless to say you can probably guess the root cause.
It was found that equipment was in vital need of overhaul and repair,
the likely ignition source was a faulty bearing in an overhead conveyor,
a cause almost identical to the Debruce grain explosion.
Staff from imperial sugar were interviewed by the csb
and they gave a pretty damning description of the facility.
Sugar leaked from worn seals, broken or missing sections of the screw conveyor and failed
pressurised air seals resulted in more sugar and dust being spilled all over the packing buildings.
Due to the large size of the buildings dust floated up
to above light fittings, piping and support beams.
A comp at cleaning policy was in force for planned
daily, weekly and monthly cleaning of the packing areas, but these weren’t enacted by management.
The csb also found that staff weren’t properly trained in dust handling.
You see the packing machines required constant cleaning of dust to work properly,
sometimes water and steam was used to clear any issues,
but often compressed air was employed which only made the dust situation worse.
Rather worryingly staff had said in interviews that leading up to the explosion
there had been small fires which were successfully extinguished.
A quality assurance survey undertaken in late 2007
found multiple issues with housekeeping and general dust management.
It just seemed that even with decades of knowledge
of the risks of dust explosions from Both the sugar and grain industries
that imperial sugar were not interested in the safety of its staff.
Sadly this story is just another in a long list of
instances were companies have prioritized profit over safety.
Aftermath
Imperial sugar shut down its Louisiana refinery 6 weeks after the explosion
at port wentworth in fears of a similar disaster.
But even though the site was pretty destroyed imperial commuted to rebuilding.
It was a vital part of the local economy
and in the wake of the disaster the area struggled as local businesses lost trade.
In the demolition of the site 1.3 million kilos of hardened sugar had to be smashed up and removed.
The rebuilding would cost 220$ million
and the comp at would report full production in November 2009.
Osha cited the company for 124 violations but the US. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia,
said there wasn’t enough evidence to prove criminal intent what a surprise.
44 lawsuits were brought against the company and many were settled out of court.
Now where would you rate this disaster in my legacy scale? 1 having a significant impact on
history and 10 being, well very influential on history, I’m going to say about a 4.
https://www.csb.gov/assets/1/20/imperial_sugar_report_final_updated.pdf?13902