By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
The state has fined a Maytown fireworks company $1,200 for safety violations that contributed to this summer’s deadly workplace accident
One employee was killed and two others injured after an explosion at Entertainment Fireworks Inc. on Reeder Road on the morning of June 18.
They were outside preparing shells, inserting what the fire department called electronic matches.
The state Department of Labor and Industries report concluded the workers were not following the safety requirements for connecting the igniters, also known as “squibbing”.
“The employer did not establish, supervise and enforce their accident prevention program in a manner that is effective in practice,” the L&I inspector wrote of the serious violation.
Exactly what they did or did not do is not specified, but the rules refer to limiting the amount of pyro materials present during the process and specify how the personnel should all work on one side of the table facing the same direction.
A witness estimated he heard and saw about 15 commercial fireworks explode at about roof level of the buildings.
Bill Hill, 75, died at the scene.
At the time, a spokesperson for L&I said the business had not had any safety complaints, incidents or inspections for a number of years.
Two other violations were found as well. The company could not provide documentation it held safety meetings for employees nor did they have training records for their two forklift operators.
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For background, read “Feds, state investigating fatal explosion at Maytown fireworks facility” from Thursday June 19, 2014, here [1]