Firm Cited For Explosion That Killed Worker

The federal government on Thursday cited former Rainbow Farm Products Inc. for job safety violations and proposed more than $330,000 in fines for the explosion that left one man dead at the company’s Magic Valley plant.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration accused the company, now known as Sundance Ag Inc., of eight instances that officials knew violated the law but did nothing about and 26 others they knew, or should have known, were hazardous.

The company has 15 days to respond. In most safety citations, companies launch negotiations with the government over the allegations.

The violations and proposed fine result from the April 3 explosion at the chemical plant that fatally injured welder Paul Stewart, 46, of Albion. He died four days later at a Salt Lake City hospital.