Kaiser Blamed In Blast Witness Alleges Company Failed To Heed Warning

An electrical consultant who worked for Kaiser Aluminum Corp. recently said the company is to blame for the plant explosion at Gramercy, La.

The consultant’s comments came at a hearing conducted by the U.S. Mining Safety and Health Administration investigating the July 5 explosion that injured 22 workers and has closed the plant.

Michael McAnelly, an electrical engineer and president of Power & Control System International Inc., testified that his company brought to Kaiser’s attention shortcomings in the plant’s electrical system years ago, according to L’Observateur, a LaPlace, La., newspaper.

He said that in 1990, his company found a ground fault that could knock out the plant’s electrical system. According to the newspaper report, McAnelly said that Kaiser ignored his company’s warnings and that could have led to the explosion.

“We certainly are aware of his allegations. I would emphasize that they are allegations at this point,” Kaiser spokesman Scott Lamb said Tuesday. “We will look into them. We do want to find out what happened and we do want to make sure that this kind of thing never happens again in a Kaiser plant.”

The MSHA hearing investigating the explosion started Sept. 8. It was recessed Sept. 17 when both sides submitted legal motions to the U.S. District Court.

The federal agency wanted to compel Kaiser to produce certain documents and require Kaiser employees to testify. Kaiser wanted an emergency stay, which was denied in early October. The hearing, held at the Convent, La., courthouse, resumed two weeks ago.

“We talked to a total of 25 people,” including McAnelly, said Rodney Brown, MSHA spokesman. He did not comment on McAnelly’s testimony.

But another 28 Kaiser employees chose not to testify, pleading the Fifth Amendment, saying their testimony might be self-incriminating, Brown said.

Kaiser claims no responsibility for those employees refusal to testify.

“It was really up to each individual employee in consultation with his or her attorney,” Lamb said. “Those were individual decisions.”

Now MSHA officials are deciding whether they have enough information to rule on the explosion or whether they want to go back to court to try to compel the reluctant witnesses to testify.

“It gives the union a great deal of concern that Kaiser would not be willing to cooperate fully,” said Sam Thomas, Steelworkers spokesman at Gramercy.

At least three of the locked-out Steelworkers testified. They were questioned because of their knowledge of the area where the explosion occurred.

If the federal agency finds Kaiser at fault in the explosion, it could impose fines.