THIS WAREHOUSE IS A MEGA DEATHTRAP

[@phillyredsox]

Attorney Tom is just the CSB’s Anger Translator.

[@Flumphinator]

Subtitle: RRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

[@TheBluestflamingos]

That is the best way of putting it

[@mahtomedi1997]

Have you ever consider looking in to this and see if there’s anything your firm can do to help victims or to fight the company

[@mahtomedi1997]

@@junoantaresofficial Right I realize that that’s why I asked the question

[@mahtomedi1997]

@@junoantaresofficial I didn’t know that doesn’t say that in the video but good if they did

[@garrettgutierrez2677]

Honestly I don't think 100% is enough fault here for Hoeganaes. Maybe 150%?

[@darkshadowgaming5374]

200%

[@bjvdkez2958]

350 final offer

[@HeavyHeartsShow]

@@bjvdkez2958 1,000 is the lowest I can do. I have to get it framed.

[@RealBradMiller]

Reading 'Hoeganaes' and hearing it for the first time. I did not pronounce it correctly...

[@Regulareverydaynormalguy1]

Yea I was thinking about 150%. I agree

[@blakebogart4218]

As someone who works in manufacturing it is terrifying to think that the amount of trust you put in your employer might be too much, I’ve heard stories of maintenance guys getting hurt working on stuff and losing fingers and only getting blamed for not seeing the risks when the company had no procedure in place to prevent said injury

[@reginaldsblaster8739]

One of the guys at a factory around where I live was getting into a tire press when it was off to perform maintenance and got crushed because the press fell. Instant death. The dude was flattened and police had to shovel his body into a bag.

[@commodoresixfour7478]

The more I become experienced, The more I started seeing dangerous stuff in my career. Don't trust your employer, educate yourself. The best way I found is to befriend experienced coworkers. That's how I originally learned of a lot of sketchy things I did when I started out. I've had to educate employers and supervisors. I've seen many things including missing safety equipment and a missing SDS book while working with drums of dangerous chemicals.

[@Linsquip_]

@@commodoresixfour7478 Worked as a welder for Great Dane Trailers, never saw anything like the grimy state of that facility however... I left Great Dane because there was inadequate ventilation and i was starting to lose feeling in my toes. Manufacturing jobs and worksites suck. Edit: Welding galvanized steel

[@tactitard7645]

I work in manufacturing and I dont trust my employer as far as I can throw them. I can't count how many times they've tried to force me to go against their own procedures because "we've gotta do what we gotta do". Screw that noise I explain why i wont then tell em if thats not good enough to just fire me. I am not getting hurt for these shitbags that dont care at all about me

[@МарияК-з1е]

This is the dark side of capitalism. Profit and cheap cost of production is above workers and health

[@fastpack6130]

"I deal with people who have wrongfully died" Damn, Necromancer Tom be hauntin' people with lawsuits

[@operator8014]

He knows how you were injured, he knows if you're in pain. He knows just how to spread the blame, and he might defend your claim.

[@j0ndav1s]

😂😂💀

[@fastpack6130]

And thats the soooound of lawsuits

[@TheBluestflamingos]

Omg, the idea of a necromancer or seer personal injury lawyer is so powerful. Sh*tbag Corporation: "Unfortunately, we can't say for sure what the ignition source was, but we speculate that it could've been static from Mr. Parr's jacket" Necromancer at Law: *eyes glowing* "The spirit of Joshua Parr would like to interject. He says that the machinery had exposed wiring. He had reported it to his supervisor, one Sam Wilson, the Thursday before the incident, and was told it would be handled 'soon'"

[@cornnflaekk675]

@@TheBluestflamingos new show right there

[@tc2241]

Being a catastrophic injury lawyer in Texas is like playing lawyering on hard mode. As a resident, I tip my hat to you sir.

[@lordvika2526]

I'm not from Texas so I don't know how hard it is as a lawyer like Tom. I always thought that catastrophic injury was kind of universal with the laws. Like the laws when a person gets hurt so bad that they can't live a normal life, wouldn't matter from state to state.

[@thorkagemob1297]

@@lordvika2526 laws arent the same everywhere but also i think texas has more oil and manufacturing type stuff than a lot of places in the US. Someone correct me if im wrong

[@demonetizationadministrato617]

@The Law that would be Florida

[@DeeJaysWord]

@@lordvika2526 In texas juries are very sympathetic to employers and do not generally give out damages for mental anguish / suffering that are adequate. People have a hard time here wrapping their mind around these verdicts because of all of the tort reform propoganda that was perpetuated in the 90's that essentially tried to scapegoat high insurance premiums as the result of "frivolous lawsuits."

[@maskettaman1488]

@@DeeJaysWord This stupid comment damaged me mentally, where's my compensation?

[@pignebula123]

Honestly this might be up to the level of criminal negligence. It is unfathomable that the firm did not know of these dangers even before any accidents occurred. Thus they must have willfully ignored them especially after the major accidents occurred.

[@CainXVII]

You need to have good equipment for sucking dust out even if you're just working with wood. This is catastrophic

[@Britt20367]

This is more like depraved indifference murder to me. I mean they clearly did not give a shit. This happened three times in less than six months. Everyone knows dusts presents a hazard. There was a series of grain elevator explosions in the 70s (from Grain dust). This is a well known and understood hazard. Anything less than a life sentence is unacceptable especially given the third incident

[@paraphilicanalysis1737]

@@Britt20367 I just wanted to mention, for the term for this, invented by Friedrich Engels, is social murder. It’s when a state essentially allows itself or economic entities to freely kill the working class

[@brokeeper2007]

At best the company could claim ignorance before the first event, but it’s difficult to see how they could make that claim after the first.

[@Memetic-Info-Hazard-Handler]

Unfortunately you can't put a corporation in jail

[@Karen-zz7qi]

$122900 in fines that they are currently contesting. No other lawsuits that I found. They essentially got away with it.

[@doubtful_seer]

That is disgusting. But sadly not surprising.

[@karannijjar27]

That is prior to settling am law suits which can take months to years

[@Sinyao]

Let me tell you a factory of that size makes that much in a few days.

[@y-yyy]

This just makes the whole situation so much worse... Something is deeply wrong with this system

[@JNDlego57]

Likely they had a private settlement with the families outside of court

[@squidcaps4308]

I have engineering background. One of the common themes when discussing safety is "why are you taking it so personally?" when my ass isn't on the line. They don't get it. This lawyer gets it. It makes you SO pissed off seeing things being designed or used improperly when you know how simple it would be to fix the problem. It often isn't even more expensive nor difficult, it is just laziness combined with not-caringenoughititis. It is a rage that just builds up, and you just keep asking "why" over and over again.

[@CainXVII]

Because you have mirror neurons that tell you it hurts when someone burns to death

[@aliencafe]

Exactly. If someone could get hurt or killed, you bet that I'm going to take the situation at hand as seriously as life or death.

[@russscott8650]

Years ago (early 90's), working at UPS, a coworker was hit in the testes with a box protruding at waist level. Supervisor made him give a safety talk, pretty much blaming him for "not keeping his eyes on his work." During his safety speech... he said "they're telling me it's my fault for not keeping my eyes on my work. What they fail to realize, I didn't get hit in the eyes."

[@ErebuBat]

Malicious Compliance

[@highvis_supply]

Can it really not be considered criminal if it is a recurring event and the mandatory as well as recommended changes have been completely disregarded countless times?

[@crsmith6226]

How can you jail a company?

[@NeverPutDown]

@@crsmith6226 it’s doable people who are in charge who neglected it mostly if it was neglected after the first incident the people in charge have the the money and capacity to hire people to get the place cleaned even if you have to shut down the plant for a one day

[@baadlyrics8705]

@@crsmith6226 thsts such a stupid question.. You know that literally millions of people, CEOs etc went to jail for what their company did, as they were in charge of that, for a lot of reasons.. So its a legitimate question to ask how severe the actions have to be for them to be convicted as criminals. I feel like im explaining it to a child, why am i even tryin lol

[@crsmith6226]

@@baadlyrics8705 I don’t know about law and no I didn’t know about CEOs being jailed. Have any sources or case citations?

[@crsmith6226]

@@NeverPutDown isn’t there something with the “corporate veil” iirc

[@jonathantutor40]

As a former plant manager, I've had to fire people because they didn't take safety protocols seriously. It's not hard to keep your air handling system working, and this is what happens if you don't.

[@RandomPerson-mr2lc]

@SnackDestroyer it is not always the plant manager or the owner’s fault. It is very possible that the workers have all the correct equipment, but fail to use it correctly or at all.

[@jonathantutor40]

@SnackDestroyer sorry to interrupt your world view but no. I actually cared at least enough that I wanted everyone to go home safe every day. Most people care enough that they prefer their employees don't die at work. Pretty much all airborne particles are explosive when mixed with air, so cheap PPE won't save anyone. Decent air handling will. Systems can run for a long time if they are well maintained. Air handling for example hasn't changed much in the last 50 years. All they have to do is keep it greased and aligned. About the only wear part is the belts, and I never had a management complaint for buying a $37 belt. Million dollar upgrades just aren't necessary unless there are new processes or huge increases in volume. Of course, places like the one in this video don't operate that way, so I'm not saying you are 100% wrong.

[@youtubeisdead1858]

@SnackDestroyer If you're being an unsafe idiot, what other solutions are there than strict coaching or firing you. You just don't like managers because you think they all are just cigar-chomping moneybags, dude. Managers are just normal people with a ton of responsibilities. You can have good managers and bad managers, the same way you can have any good employee or bad employee.

[@crazycherokee8552]

I think this is the angrier I've ever seen Tom while watching a uscsb video. It's usually a somber, somewhat frustrating moment to look back on what a company did wrong and show respects to those that lost their lives to earn someone else money, but this video is straight roasting the Ironworks company (can't spell that name sorry). I've only made it to the 3rd incident before pausing to talk about Tom's surprising rage 😬 imma go ahead and toss it out there that the company is probably 138% at fault for every incident so far and possibly any other incident to come.

[@ididthisonpulpous6526]

You could see it was really triggering his sense of injustice. When they announced the third accident he was done. His face was like my Dad's when the Cardinal's lose to Kansas City...

[@SuperNuclearUnicorn]

Yeah dude was just fucking pissed. Watch around the 11:00 mark and he's just sitting there silent, looking like he could kill someone

[@SuperNuclearUnicorn]

@@ididthisonpulpous6526 could be worse, they could have lost to the Cubs

[@razorstone3088]

This makes me so angry I don't know how you are able to deal with these kind of things on a daily basis, but I'm glad you are able to help people in these situations.

[@Mystical922]

Glad he’s there to make the corporations pay and suffer as much as legally possible

[@MrTimequake]

He deals with it because he's angry. Motivation

[@bkdmode]

USCSB videos should be mandatory viewing for ANY politician who whines about the need to de-regulate industries to unburden them from the fascist rules & regulations that stand in the way of corporate profits.

[@runnersshade6612]

Yes, though it wouldn't change their minds. Most people have a price to ignore their morals, and companies/lobbyists recognize that

[@LogjammerDbaggagecling-qr5ds]

It boggles my mind when I hear working class people complain about regulations, its like they don't actually understand what it means to deregulate. The only people regulations negatively affect are sleazy corporations whose business model is to cut every corner possible to increase profit at the cost of their workers' blood. And it's not like they're sharing those profits either. That shit goes straight into their executives' bank accounts.

[@LogicalNiko]

It’s blatant negligence cases like these where you wish that corporate structures cannot shield their owners and board from personal criminal liabilities. The executives who run this company deserve to not just be financially liable but to serve a decade or more in prison for their debt to society for encouraging such poor business practices with the industry; because once one company cuts corners their competitors usually try to do the same lowering the overall status quo of the industry.

[@46lespaul]

I just like to say the place I'm working at now just yesterday we had this smell of what was like spray paint or acetone kind of smell just wafting through the air and our supervisors acted accordingly they sent us all outside they kept us entertained brought out some kickballs we all just act like we were having a grill out well they determined what the level of threat was and tried to figure out where the smell came from even though it was something so familiar that you wouldn't think was harmful they took it extremely seriously they even sent us all home early and called the local fire department to come and find out where the smell is coming from so they could make sure we were all safe

[@devbyrd6127]

Your company is awesome!🙌 the company in this video should’ve done this instead. I’m glad they’re taking that stuff seriously

[@CartoonWeasel]

So? What was it? You cant just finish a paragraph without saying what it was. (Unless there was nothing)

[@46lespaul]

Turns out it was just some paint had spilled and they just couldn't find it

[@miaroberts4259]

The fact that this factory is still open and STILL has people getting injured is really sad..

[@deadlikedisco4726]

Of all the gasses I don't fuck with, I don't fuck with hydrogen the most. Sometimes I must deal with hydrogen gas in my laboratory, and when I do, I go overkill on safety, PPE, etc. because of how dangerous it is. Combining that with fine particles of ANY KIND is almost a guaranteed death sentence. I mean even corn starch becomes explosive when it's in the air. This refinery is infuriating. Thanks for doing what you do, Tom. Hope you're doing well.

[@elizabeths.9992]

When I heard in the video this happened in Gallatin, TN, I wondered why I didn't remember hearing about it (I was about 8-9 when this happened, so I figured it may have just been my memory.) Turns out my little sister went to school with one of the victims kids... The kid had to leave school early to go to the hospital and give their parent one last goodbye... I can't understand why any manager of any company would be ok with letting this happen, as I'm sure plenty of other families had to deal with this sort of thing as well. I can say they did get used by a ton of different families though, so what you said about them getting sued into the stone age, may not have been far off (at least I'm hoping so.)

[@spraynard9529]

“I can’t understand why any manager of any company would be ok with letting this happen.” My guess is the praise and bonuses coming from the higher ups for keeping costs low combined with the corporate structure allowing them to shift the blame to anyone but themselves is how they can sleep at night. Who knows, if we’re at least a little lucky, they’ll retire and have the time to look back on their career. Maybe their decisions will start to haunt them and the rest of their nights will be spent staring at the ceiling and realizing just how much blood is on their hands. Probably not, but a girl can dream, right?

[@tommyb1088]

Civil charges aren’t enough for criminal liability in my opinion. This is criminal negligence causing death, and should be treated as such.

[@shadow_td]

@@spraynard9529 considering it probably costed them millions of dollars in lawsuits. I imagine the tone has changed...

[@CainXVII]

Sadly, the only thing that works is well-written legislation. Inspections and keeping up to date with workplace safety must be mandatory or it won't happen.

[@MultiPurposeReviewer]

"The only thing we can do is get them money. That is the only remedy allowed under the law." You mean you can't throw the company executives responsible for the hazards into a cloud of iron dust and set them on fire? BS, man, this country...

[@doubtful_seer]

I honestly feel like there should be jail time involved

[@MrNoobed]

Well theres criminal negligence somewhere isnt there? But your lawyer doesnt get to press charges, it has to be the local prosecutor.

[@magicmiya7545]

@@MrNoobed only for people, not corporations. You guys should check out the recent Supreme Court decision on slavery in cocoa industries. People in Ohio can decide to enslave people for profit as long as the people enslaved aren’t in the US

[@HebiSnake]

@@magicmiya7545 That's some bullshit :/ The system is so fucked up

[@magicmiya7545]

@@HebiSnake agreed

[@DustinRodriguez1_0]

Burns are absolutely terrible, and worse than most people realize even in cases where the person survives. The skin and other damage causes lots of other problems that linger for decades. My uncle got burned over a large portion of his body (I think 75% or so, it was a long time ago so I might have the amount wrong). That recovery took ages, of course, tons of grafts, etc, but his eyes and head were mostly OK at least. However, since then he has had nothing but issue after issue that traces back (according to his doctors) to those burns. Most recently, he ended up getting a heart transplant after years of heart problems. It's just like a cascade of issues, with either one problem causing the next or the bodies own reaction to fixing one problem being too severe and causing the next. He's a very upbeat guy, but from the outside it certainly seems like a ridiculously and insufferably drawn out consequences from a single tragic event. The issues with flammable dust is scary as hell. Even things that aren't very flammable when they're solid or even in a pile can become straight up explosive when in a dispersed dust form. That creates a fuel-air explosion, which are the most powerful non-nuclear explosions mankind knows how to create. Fuel-air explosions are used to level entire buildings, or to blow up things like bridges that are so open that normal demolitions would be extremely difficult. That's why corn silos sometimes explode. Dust from the corn gets all spread out, then all it takes is a spark. One piece of dust ignites (very easy even if the bulk substance doesn't burn well) and its surrounded by air so burns hot and fast, hot and fast enough to ignite the other specks of dust floating nearby, and it just expands outward, creating an explosion in a fraction of a second. Yeah you'll get burned... after the explosion pressure wave bursts your eardrums and causes all the injuries pressure waves cause.

[@Cakeses]

I...don't know if I could live like that

[@originalindividuals9792]

Nearly all powders when given the proper space will burn, don't do this, but cornstarch if you blow it from your hand will burn as well. Powders are crazy dangerous. Especially cause they can ignite themselves with friction too

[@johnspence8141]

That’s been a common accident in silos

[@teep-yt]

These USCSB videos are wild, I'm a chemist working in Texas City and get a little nervous when I drive past some of the huge refineries where things can turn catastrophic if they go wrong. I'm glad my company isn't as evil and negligent as the one in this video though!

[@Sinyao]

Remember to thank your chemical engineer. They're the ones who are supposed to build and recommend safe practices for the industry, but only if the company hires them or the safety firm they work for in the first place.

[@thatisjustwhatisaid]

After the track record that they were setting, when a hydrogen explosion was mentioned my mind first went to a fusion blast. The factory appeared so dangerous I subconsciously expected them to have accidental nuclear explosions going off.

[@circeciernova1712]

In addition to a complete and repeated failure to control a flammable dust, I would also be looking at the long-term impact of working in that environment without protective equipment - I noticed that the part that was actual surveillance camera footage showed workers without any masks. There need to be studies on the effects of so much iron dust on the eyes, lungs, and airway, as well as the effects of more dispersed iron dust.

[@bTabard]

I have never seen Tom this mad. May I or my family never need your services, but if we do, I'm glad you're out there.

[@emily84]

I’m speechless. After the second fire you would have thought the workers would have quit. The company should have been forced to close. Ridiculous how neglectful they are.

[@tommyb1088]

It gets so much worse than that. Think about the workers who survived. They had to watch their colleagues get blown up. They had to escape through thick clouds of dust that could ignite at any moment and incinerate them. They battled with death and suffering for months in the hospital. They did all of that, only for management to decide that it’s too expensive to clean the massive piles of explosive iron dust, and instead the survivor’s sacrifice and courage should be insulted by making them do a safety presentation about how it’s “entirely the fault of the workers” for being there when it explodes, and how the higher-ups did “absolutely nothing wrong” by not paying for a proper clean-up.

[@natalietai7891]

Unfortunately the reality is that a lot of the workers, even if they knew the dangers involved, didn't have the luxury of "just quitting" without maybe putting themselves out of a home and unable to take care of themselves.

[@mikecurry6847]

I worked in a sawmill in Northern Michigan for almost 15 years and Tom would have lost his mind if he ever heard about/saw what happened there.

[@antondavis33]

Some measure of responsibility has to fall on the agencies in charge of workplace safety outside of the company as well. Such an obvious death trap even without hindsight- if we live in a world where plants like this one cannot be forcibly shut down for needlessly endangering workers time and time again, more oversight is obviously necessary. This is what happens when states are pitted against each other in a race to the bottom in regards to taxes/regulation/oversight for the sake of jobs.

[@cae1136]

People sometimes ask why OSHA and other worker protections exist, sometimes even complain they exist. This, this is why those protections exist and are so important.

[@l8Os]

Does anybody know what Tom does for a living? What kinda lawyer is he , he’s never mentioned it.

[@Sinyao]

Catastrophic injury lawyer.

[@yharon8243]

Catastrophic injury lawyer. So most things related to people being severely injured or dying is right up their alley. This is why them saying 100% of the fault being on the company has such an impact in my opinion. Usually in law it has a lot of conditions and stuff like "it depends", which normally doesn't make it easy for there to be anything cut and dry like this.

[@adamwiley8658]

@@yharon8243 whoooosh

[@ayahoo16]

I once heard a terrible first-hand account of a rescue worker that had responded to a terrible fire. He was distraught as victim after victim were pulled lifeless from the building he was waiting for a viable patient. There are triage rules and he was not allowed to wait on a patient unless they met certain criteria so he was waiting for a patient that was viable. He finally got his chance when they pulled a girl from the fire that was still alive. He was with her in the back of the ambulance as they rushed to the hospital. I will never forget as he described his feelings. He went from being on top of the world with the hopes that he could save someone. To wishing that they hadn't tried to save her. In his words "we needed to be there 5 minutes sooner or 5 minutes later". He was with her and she suffered for 24 hours and died. He said that he was praying to God as they were driving the ambulance that she would die. He could tell that there was nothing they could do for her and all they could do was extend her suffering. It is true that sometimes surviving a fire is worse than death itself.

[@wkdravenna]

The primary product made at this factory is burns and sadness.

[@lazy_lefty]

Is there any possibility for the corporation to be criminally liable in a case like this where there is repeated flaunting of safety regulations and such negligence that it results in 3 different accidents all causing at least one death?

[@tommyb1088]

Idk, I don’t think you can put a whole company in jail. I’d like to see it happen though.

[@ErebuBat]

A person can not bring a criminal suit

[@mintw4241]

Not if the cops are in with them and dont wanna prosecute

[@VanMoona]

Watching this it makes me appreciate working for McCormick. Even though we were a 24/7 factory it was pretty clean. Had good processes in place when I worked there. Factories give me the heebie geebies. I feel much safer in my current career.

[@kiethmergard]

I’m so angry, I can’t hold my phone properly. This is 100% the fault of the company. Clearly the company knew this was a massive problem, but chose to ignore the issue. Three middle fingers to the company and two middle fingers to the plant foreman and bosses. The closest I can describe what burns are like is this. Imagine being in so much pain, your grip in your hands bends the metal rails of your hospital bed. When they do procedures to clean your burns, it feels like you are cut by millions if knives. When the water stops and treatment stops, it feels even worse. I’ve been in a burn ward visiting a friend. I couldn’t handle it. There are no words to describe how angry I am. If it were up to me, the company executives would lose their jobs, but not before being forced to endure the same burns and pay billions. 1 incident is MAYBE forgivable. This fking plant had 3 incidents within a 6 month time frame. Negligent homicide for all the executives and I hope they all have to live with the knowledge people died because of their illegal bullshit.

[@_ultraface]

As someone who works in several plants as a contractor I wholeheartedly appreciate the work you do to protect and defend guys like me. Thank you sir.

[@LadyBern]

This makes me thankful for how strict the factory I once worked at was. Cosmetics but acetone was all over the place. We were trained how to discharge and ground ourselves, vigorous fire safety and training, and absolutely no cellphones or electronic devices. Even if you didn't mean to bring your phone it was 2 weeks suspension. They did not fool around.

[@Luke-A]

This is what happens when companies focus more on the product than labour and safety.

[@MoonLiteNite]

Everyone of the employees cared more about their paychecks than their own safety. They all knew of the risks and nobody left the company, or took time to remove the risk. So this is also what happens when employees care more about their personal profits and gains than their own safety.

[@ExarchGaming]

@@MoonLiteNite what a weird way to blame the victims. Shareholder of the Hoeganaes Corporation????

[@hannanah8036]

@@MoonLiteNite pretty sure it has more to do with not having a choice but to work. It's not easy to just switch jobs in a couple months for most people. They were probably being payed very little, so very little in savings. Also how would you go about removing tonnes of iron dust in a factory with no means to do so?

[@arcanealchemist3190]

@@MoonLiteNite the time between the first accident and the last was only about 3 months. if you can get a job lined up that fast and leave your old one, that's some fuckin talent, man.

[@Luke-A]

@@MoonLiteNite that's ridiculous, do you really think that you can just turn around to your boss and say oh im just going to clean this off then ill get on with the rest of my work. You'd be sacked that day for poor performance and do you really think that sort of job is about personal profit... no its about supporting yourself and making sure you can pay your bills on time, do you think people wouldn't have walked the first second or third time they saw friends die if they didn't need the money. Its the companies responsible to set procedures to scheduled cleaning and maintenance its not down the the employee to take that upon themselves.

[@kstricl]

In this case - I'd be cheering on an army of lawyers for billions in damages. A massive amount to those actually injured and a huge settlement for the rest of the workers forced to condinue to work in known unsafe conditions. There is zero excuse for this to happen - the dangers of iron dust have been known for decades, if not centuries.

[@lilforkk9656]

I work in a trailer assembly plant and the amount of sawdust that rains every single day from the rafter and the inches of it accumulated on the I beams and other areas we can’t even see. This video literally brought me to tears in the thought that this could maybe be me one day simply because of how the procedures go at my workplace

[@DonDough1]

You make me want to help people even more.

[@jordanjoestar-turniptruck]

Not even having the CSB on their ass, pending lawsuits, and a sense of self-preservation could incentivize that company to even pretend to care! It jus boggles my mind...was it stupidity? Stubborness? Extreme contempt for their workers? Disguised ritual sacrifices to Beezulbub? I really want to hear them attempt some sort of explanation.

[@jonsnow8550]

How is OSHA not responsible for this? Shouldn't they have shut the plant down after reading ppm in air after first injury???

[@Rudofaux]

OSHA shuffling their feet again.

[@NickCev]

It’s because OSHA is underfunded and under employed.

[@troythompson1768]

OSHA is blind and toothless. It is so because the owners of regulated businesses have money that they can contribute to the political campaigns of anti-regulation politicians who will fight to keep OSHA blind and toothless in the name of "economic freedom". Interestingly, these are also usually the same politicians who like to harp on about tort reform, because, of course, if they're gonna make it harder to prevent businesses from injuring you, they also don't want you to be able to sue those businesses when they do injure you.

[@ShadowLimited310]

They had just started implementing the rules for metal dust while these cases happened and the CSB doesn't have the authority to actually shut down companies. By the time OSHA had even gotten involved, all 3 incidents have happened. It doesn't help that OSHA is extremely understaffed, about 1 officer for every 70,000 employees

[@tommyb1088]

how the fuck is OSHA responsible? they aren’t the ones who completely disregarded the safety of those factory workers.

[@obi_wanshinobi]

2:40 I can tell Tom is genuinely pissed off as opposed to just acting for the camera. Dealing with catastrophic injury victims must take a mental toll on someone. Seeing further tragedy occur even after an accident already happened must make his blood boil (understandably).

[@tommyb1088]

I absolutely agree. He’s enraged at the sheer stupidity and ignorance of the company. One explosion is bad enough, but it’s just absolutely, unforgivably horrible that there were three explosions in four months, while the company sat on its ass and did nothing to stop it.

[@zubetp]

@@tommyb1088 oh that's not entirely true. i'm sure they told upper management to lecture all the workers about trying harder to not die in explosions.

[@superson5586]

These USCSB videos are great. Super informational and having you react and talk through it makes it that much more so. These have gained my sub and enjoying all the content.

[@chelmastly5802]

Congratulations Tom you’ve officially added “catastrophic injury law” to my list of potential careers (also including being a professor, prosecutor, or doctor)

[@ebolapie]

I live for these industrial accident videos. Seeing somebody else get as f'g angry as I do at corporate negligence is immensely validating.

[@KiithnarasAshaa]

I know it is a fact of reality, but my brain definitely made it sound like you were saying the _law_ prevented you from turning back the clock. "Mister Kherkher, please understand that we are not permitted to compel the Esteemed Order of Time Lords to rewind time, even if it is to undo tragedies. The Time Variance Authority would likely not allow it to begin with."

[@j-dog7767]

I can't even imagine the mindset one has to allow this to happen in their company. Its upsetting that nobody go to prison for this.

[@ronbertguy]

I am literally wearing an old GKN workshirt while watching this... It is my dad's from when he worked at GKN Sinter Metals, and I worked at GKN Driveline. I made automotive parts, and while I was not around much iron dust, but I can say cleaning was minimal at best, and safety was never a priority. Workers are expendable, and it was a revolving door of workers coming and going.

[@BeersAndBeatsPDX]

I had a teacher in a millwright class. When working at a steel mill the crane operator dumped the molten steel in the wrong spot and it ended up going down my teachers back. He showed pictures. It was horrendous

[@ejm-ee5tb]

You're so DAMMMM passionate about helping the ppl who have been wronged i think its save to say that you would fight tooth and nail for someone who has been wronged....KEEP IT UP MY DUDE

[@thepenguin9]

Remember, iron is a key part of thermite

[@tommyb1088]

In thermite, iron oxides and aluminum metal react when melted to form aluminum oxides and iron metal. This is different: Iron metal reacts with oxygen gas to form iron oxides. Both reactions will also produce several casualties as a product if done improperly.

[@thepenguin9]

@@tommyb1088 yes I'm aware this wasn't a thermite mixture, thank you for saying exactly the same information as I did.

[@tek4]

4:26 Business is making metal dusts, so storage and containment is needed The metrics iron when finely powdered is pyrophoric and can be lit on fire by sparks or other means such as friction when dispersed in air, similar to grain silo fire risks. They operate 24 hours a day, so a night time cleaning is not feasible. Was this all preventable however, yes. Poor management and decisions lead to worker safety issues and these should not be called accidents but rather unintended events. Because accidents can't be avoided and this whole situation could of been

[@MrsAlott]

Holy crap I was an LEB elec. subcontractor and did a few jobs for a plant that manufactured nitrogen pellets for fertilizer. Remember having to wade through accumulated material easily 10" deep to run new lines... Never occurred to me that I might've fkn exploded.

[@candyisjoy]

This was 10 years ago. I would be interested in what has happened since then. Did the company fix the air cleaning equipment? Did they close the plant and move to another location?

[@Thedarkbunnyrabbit]

Other comments say there was a little over 100k in fines they're contesting, and to this day there are still accidents and injuries happening there.

[@feliciafrench9765]

I hope all the victims families in this tragedy get love and support. Rip to all of the employees that died in this gross negligence.

[@lucasj6147]

you'd think they would try and fix their facility to avoid the lawsuits they so deserve

[@Somerandomguy524]

I guess the lawsuits are within budget, arent most corps limited liability anyway? at worst the corp goes under and everyone ends without a job, the guys at the top have their personal wealth secured, they can just open a new one. Lawsuits are a terrible way to ¨punish¨the rich, because it does not punish them at all, it just gives some relief to the victims.

[@sammco6704]

They only got like 100,000 to 200,000 dollars in fines and lawsuits from this, they essentially got away with it and probably knew that would happen

[@doubtful_seer]

For a lot of these companies it’s cheaper to pay the fines than to fix the issues that would lead to better safety. Money over people. Ugh.

[@MrKeserian]

Not an attorney, just a former Non-attorney assistant, but it gets worse. Haganese wasn't even following industry best common practice. I recall in the full CSB report (or maybe it was an expert witness for one of the cases that was reported on in the media) that a plant manager at another powder metals facility was horrified at the lack of industry standard safety measures.

[@therrydicule]

100% on the corporation, and on top I think they should pay damages to uninjured employees for putting their lives at risks and not giving a [turtle]. And I think the bosses should be sent to school, like some OSHA formations.

[@MrTimotheousWard]

I can't get over how specific and detailed these CSB animations are.

[@Here4Years]

Your passion does you credit, AT. I'm sending you an internet hug.

[@Nomadicowboy1911]

I have worked with a safety company up in Alberta Canada before for a few years and even in some of the investigations where the company is at fault, I have never seen a company that just didn’t care at all this much, this place was a death trap that was gonna go off it was a matter of when not if

[@Novice_Maker]

My dad was a safety manager for surface operations at a sodium bicarbonate facility. It consisted of a mine, where sodium carbonate was mined, and then refined on the surface He was in charge of surface operations, and to make a long story short, he would be absolutely livid that any of this was allowed to happen. There is no reason for dust to be that bad, in fact he would probably argue that if there isn't some form of dust control in place, production needs to stop immediately. This is for three reasons, lung health, people probably should be wearing masks while at work in that environment, fire risk, as many things that aren't explosive on their own can become incredibly lethal when blown in fine particles like that, and finally... electrical conductivity. If you have a breaker on a motor of that size, in an environment where that much dust is allowed to accumulate, you drastically increase the risk and damage of an arc flash explosion. For those uninitiated, an arc flash is like a lightning strike. A facility that size doesn't use the same voltage power as what we are used to. The motor on the lift could be using tens of thousands of volts, and with that much power, you literally have enough energy to reproduce a lightning strike. Iron dust can potentially make a path to ground where one shouldn't be, and potentially electrocute a worker. In fact, at that high voltage, it is closer to a gunshot wound than an electrical injury, because the electric current will flash the water in the tissue to steam, causing an explosion in your body. If you are ever working in a plant and you see this shit, quit, immediately. They will kill you with their greed.

[@MrTimequake]

Factory, closed, at night??? This is America, can't afford the downtime

[@maj.romuloortiz7832]

Extreme Anger and Extreme Sorrow are the feelings I have with these incidents

[@UNUSUALUSERNAME220]

I've worked in industry my entire working life. I have learned over the years that companies DO NOT care about you, or your safety. That may sound like a broad statement, but in my experience it is the truth. Anecdotal evidence does not account for much, but it has helped me to avoid life threatening situations and circumstances. My attitude is simple, I am in charge of MY safety! I do not let anyone tell ME, what is safe or acceptable! The sad part is, if you tell the boss that something is not safe and you are not going to do that, they get mad at YOU! The most frustrating part is that they can ALWAYS find someone else to do it when you tell them NO! You have to be willing and able to quit a job over unsafe conditions, because the company is not going to do ANYTHING unless they have to. Dust is one of the most dangerous working conditions I have ever experienced! And I have experienced dust explosions twice! Arc flash is the only thing that comes close, because it happens so quickly that there is nothing you can do until it's over! You have to be willing to quit a job if it is unsafe! I have always told people that there is a fate worse than death! When you're dead, your problems are over! I have seen some guys injured in some of the most horrible ways that it kept me up at night! Now, I can tell if a facility is safe or not without even having to enter the building! If something is unsafe, don't do it! Pack up your stuff and go home, and do not go back! I have had to do that twice! It's not fun but, I'm still alive, two of the guys I worked with are not! Be safe, and be prepared to move on!

[@oganvildevil]

One thing that got beat into me as an apprentice; do not fuck around with airborne dust. It can be sugar, iron, corn, whatever it is, if it's throwing out dust in a confined space, you treat it as a literal powder keg. Cause it fucking is.

[@Xplodicon]

They don't make enough percents to describe how at fault the company is. I can't imagine being a worker there and watching my co-workers DIE in preventable incidents then being asked to come back the next day. Evil.

[@brackencloud]

You know its bad when "he recieved first and second degree burns" is a relief to hear, when in reality, even that is terrible

[@danielaramburo7648]

If I worked in that steel factory, I would quit. Clearly my boss don’t care if I die.

[@dusparr]

Fun fact: the first worker that lived 4 months before dying, lived long enough to see all three incidents

[@alphawolffestudios1169]

Dear good those 2 companies were probably going of the philosophy of “It is what it is” I just pray that the worker had access to Type D fire extinguishers since it’s rated for flammable metals.

[@richardhead5879]

Steam burns are even worse because steam burns don't kill your nerves like fire does. Heard about a case in the US where a guy was pushed, during a fight, into an open sewer that had a burst steam vent leaking into it for hours on end before. He fell into a pit of boiling water and steam that was up to his waist and he couldn't get out. Emergency services arrived but couldn't do anything because it was too hot to enter or lift him out. They had to stand by and listen as he begged for help while they couldn't help. He died eventually while they waited and it took hours before the sewer cooled down enough for them to retrieve his body. Probably the worst death I've ever heard about. Literally boiled alive without any relief. The fight that caused it was a misunderstanding as well apparently

[@jaythatguyyouknow5135]

I’m a heavy equipment/machinery mechanic and I could absolutely see myself in the position of the mechanics shown at 8:00. If I was in their position and wasn’t told about the dangers about iron dust I would most likely do exactly what these guys did. I don’t like the government in most cases but I definitely appreciate bodies like the USCSB and OSHA, even if they do make my job very difficult at times. I rather deal with miles of paperwork and red tape to do the dumbest things than put myself in danger for a company that could care less about me or my family. I also appreciate people like Tom that hold these companies feet to the fire when they rightfully deserve it.

[@wreath626]

Holy sh*t. That is some pure incompetence as business owners. Wow.

[@bpwn3r]

I had a work incident where they said the air in my room was too toxic for coworkers to breathe. So close it off. My assistant was removed for extra work elsewhere. My arm was cinched in some machinery. I had my left hand on my phone to call 911. A bolt was stuck in my right arm just next to my elbow there. There was no nurse on site and they financially penalize you for injuries. So I ripped the arm out, there was no circulation anymore, so no blood, just an opening of flesh and bone. Sat down with the trauma kit and patched myself. Is there a lawsuit there?

[@justinpowell3174]

The truy sad thing is, it would cost them more to shut down the plant and clean it, than to just pay out wrongful death settlements

[@danbrit9848]

thank you for this series ....when these came out i wanted so badly to hear a lawyers thoughts on them

[@jedijam91]

I started watching these videos after getting out of a manufacturing job and now it scares me still looking back.

[@MamaWheelz]

This literally happened in my home town. This is going to be a rough watch. 😰

[@aliencafe]

Man, this whole situation is just awful. So much negligence on so many levels, so many people harmed and killed. Just disgusting.

[@KN-oc7cu]

I would be fucking terrified if i was part of the team investigating it. Having 5o run those machines to determine where the faults where, when there where THREE different ignitions!?!? And then you get in there to see that this shit is stacked 4 inches deep!? From what I can tell they were PPE'ed up like crazy, but still. That's terrifying

[@LiftandBeer]

Have to say as a manufacturing engineer, despite not having a procedure for flammable gas leaks- the maintenance workers should have enough professional understanding to know that you NEVER use a metal to metal surface on a cover when dealing with gas leaks. Even if the gas is non-combustible, the associated danger with flammable dust should be plenty of reason to avoid any potential source of ignition. Legally still the responsibility of the company to provide a safe procedure and maintenance schedule to avoid such disasters but in the interest of self preservation, NEVER use a potential ignition source when there are fire hazards. I've seen operators attempt to clean up spills of highly combustible chemicals that are pouring off vapors with STEEL SHOVELS even when there is a clear procedure to use the spill kits provided. If I hadn't yelled at them to slowly step out of the puddle of fire they were scraping along, little chance they would have survived that blaze had it occurred. I care about the people on the floor and they deserve to go home to their families in good health. While it is egregious the lack of safety controls in this plant, people still should act in a conscious manner to protect themselves. My heart goes out to the victims but please if you work in plants with hazards such as this educate yourself on the policies and safeguards in place and if they are not adequate CALL OSHA and they will immediately send out a representative.

[@noktelfa]

I've worked in industrial settings, and had to get safety training for even an office job. I can't imagine sitting through a week of safety training, passing my tests, getting my certificate, and then going into work the next day and having the company kill me through outright negligence. There should be something criminal that these companies can be charged with.

[@dramspringfeald]

Going through your catalog I use to work at a plywood factory and we had the occasional dust fire. Wood powder while east to set off burns pretty cool, but having done blacksmithing and backyard firework manufacturing for a hobby you lean quick that iron flash is stupid hot and just as easy to flash. Just a reminder, 40% aluminum and 60% iron dust is what you use to make thermite that gets hot enough to melt diamond

[@lasagnasux4934]

I used to work for a candy factory with some mildly unsafe stuff going on. The company was a Japanese owned one, so I don't know if they have the same standards over there, but it definitely wasn't up to OSHA's standards and they were constantly getting audited. The one time I saw the president though, I put a 'kick me, I'm not Irish' on his back and 'taste me - dispenser' straight on the butt of his smock. Surprisingly, they 'let me go' soon after.

[@apexpredator5428]

I’m in that situation right now. Trinity industries rail division has a blast system that uses steel shot. The bucket elevator extends above ground about 50 feet. At the top there is a vacuum curtain that is supposed to draw the dust from the shot. It doesn’t work because management wants it set light so it doesn’t pull any usable shot from the curtain. Pulverized shot is everywhere up top and down sides of the BCP. We have two baghouses that don’t get serviced on a regular basis. The drums underneath take awhile to fill up because a lot of the dust goes airborne. I guess I better start getting shit blown off while machines not running. I don’t want to end up toasted.

[@ZacksPLs]

Seeing this makes me glad I work for a corporation that cares about the health and safety of its workers

[@phillyredsox]

Those worker’s should own that company after the lawsuits.

[@nsahandler]

What I despise is that I learned that Metal dust (not just iron) was flammable in HIGH SCHOOL. IN. HIGH SCHOOL.

[@onawal931]

Used to work for a janitorial svcs co. We would have loved this work. It's ridiculous these ppl suffered so much.

[@etoilefushigi]

What upsets me most is that in states like Tennessee (where I currently live) people blatantly ignore OSHA all the time and get away with it 99.99% of the time. TN is ranked #26 in workers rights and protections and #39 in right to organize by Oxfam. I have seen people be fired for pointing out OSHA violations and refusing to work for safety reasons. Since we're an at will work state and our worker protections are so bad sometimes many people who refuse to do their job duties because of valid safety reasons are fired for "poor performance" or "misconduct". We're also a no fault compensation state but many employers aren't required to offer workers comp at all. You'd think there'd be tons of employment lawsuits over this but because the system is so messed up here it's extremely hard to prove that you were retaliated against in any way. Most companies burry small stuff in their policy books like the color of your safety glasses must be blue- but then hand out red glasses(generalized example, don't quote me on that); combine that with a 3 strike mandatory termination policy and it's very easy to dispose of "complainers".

[@NickTaylorRickPowers]

Is this factory still open ?

[@l.b8896]

“I hope you get Sued to the Stone Age” sounds like an album.

[@Spluge_McDucktv]

This entire video reminded me of the years that I spent working in the oil and gas industry during the ~2011 oil boom. Safety is the most important thing in the world... until it starts to cost money. It is cheaper in the short term to throw money at the problems that arise from these situations than it is to shut the plant down, fix the underlying issues, and find the proper implementation for all of the services that are required for safe operation. This is the perfect example of why the Antiwork movement was able to gain any traction at all in the first place.

[@Wampa842]

I am now forever afraid of horizontal surfaces.

[@MoonLiteNite]

Every employee should have been too, but they were too greedy and ignored the hazard and kept on working to get their paychecks.

[@amanda5nicole]

@@MoonLiteNite maybe not greedy but just trying to support families.

[@muun9403]

98% on corporation, 2% on the workers for not taking preventative measures and shutting the gas off anyways (they assumed it was nitrogen) but I'm betting that there's policy written [somewhere] that gas should be shut-off regardless of flammability. Otherwise, fuck the corp.

[@neruneri]

I don't know what was more explosive, that warehouse or Tom's seething rage.