ConAgra workers sue N.C. town (explosion that killed four people and injured dozens more)

[Omaha Steve]

Source: Omaha World Herald

More than 20 ConAgra Foods employees filed a lawsuit Thursday against the town of Garner, N.C. and more than 15 contractors who had worked at ConAgra’s Slim Jim plant in there before last summer’s fatal explosion that killed four people and injured dozens more.

The 23 employees named as plaintiffs in the civil suit all suffered injuries in the explosion, including severe burns and emotional trauma, according to the lawsuit filed in Wake County District Court.

The suit alleges negligence on the part of the town of Garner and the contractors, including Hickory, N.C.-based Energy Systems Analysts, which federal investigators said caused the blast by improperly purging indoor a natural gas line that fueled the plant’s water heater.

According to the suit, investigators from the town of Garner were at the ConAgra facility on June 9, the day of the explosion, and witnessed the improper purging of the natural gas line, but allowed it to continue. Previously, the town of Garner allowed contractor Midsouth Industrial Refrigeration Inc. to install the natural gas and propane lines that fed the water heater, even though Midsouth did not have the proper permits or licenses to install the lines, according to the suit.

Read more: http://www.omaha.com/article/20100408/NEWS01/100409593/-1#conagra-workers-sue-n-c-town