Chocolate company fined $45,000 for failing to evacuate its employees during a gas leak that killed 7 workers
- The Department of Labor has fined a candymaker in Pennsylvania $45,500.
- In March 2023, a gas leak caused an explosion at the company's factory, killing seven workers.
Federal investigators are blaming a Pennsylvania-based candy company for the deaths of seven of its own employees in a block-leveling explosion earlier this year, saying it should have evacuated its factory after workers first reported smelling gas.
The blast came on a Friday evening in March, obliterating R.M. Palmer's facility in Reading, about 60 miles northwest of Philadelphia. In July, the National Transportation Safety Board identified the cause as a natural gas service fitting that had been retired in 1982 but was still connected to the system and was leaking just a couple of feet from pipes carrying heated chocolate.
In addition to the fatalities, another 11 people were injured. Three families in neighboring buildings also had to evacuate their damaged homes.
While R.M. Palmer may not be responsible for the gas leak, investigators with the Department of Labor and its Occupational Safety and Health Administration accuse the company of negligence and a couple of serious violations of standards: failing to "evacuate workers during a natural gas leak inside the building" and failing to clearly mark an exit.
"Seven workers will never return home because the R.M. Palmer Co. did not evacuate the facility after being told of a suspected gas leak," OSHA Area Director Kevin T. Chambers said in a statement released Thursday. "Ensuring the safety of a workplace is expected of employers and required by law. The company could have prevented this horrific tragedy by following required safety procedures."
In total, the Department of Labor is proposing fines of $44,500 for the alleged violations.
R.M. Palmer has about two weeks to contest the findings, which would punt the issue to the OSHA Review Commission, an independent federal agency. In a statement, the company — which makes treats ranging from chocolate coins to Yoo-Hoo candy bars — said it plans to do just that, arguing that the department has made unsubstantiated claims of there being a gas leak "inside" the Reading factory.
The company "intends vigorously to contest OSHA's citations, which it believes are legally and factually unsupported," R.M. Palmer said in its own statement. "We have always put the safety of our employees and community first."
To date, the National Transportation Safety Board's ongoing investigation has only identified a leak in the pipes operated by the local utility. However, both companies have been sued for ignoring federal warnings that the type of gas pipeline fittings used by the Reading factory were prone to cracking.