Officials Waiting for Insurance Adjusters at Site of Chemical Plant Explosion

Officials from pharmaceutical manufacturer Seqens and the city of Newburyport, Massachusetts are waiting on insurance adjusters to show before beginning demolition and cleanup at the Seqens facility where a worker was killed in an explosion last week.

The city has given Seqens, also known as PCI Synthesis, a deadline of 8 a.m. on Wednesday to start demolition of the building addition where the explosion occurred.

A spokesperson for Seqens told Insurance Journal he had no official update as of noon on Tuesday regarding the arrival of adjusters and start of demolition.

According to Newburyport Fire Chief Stephen H. Bradbury III, hazardous materials technicians and crews were on the scene in the city’s business park on Monday, removing the final eight 55-gallon drums of chemicals, and draining approximately 2,000 gallons of chemicals from chemical reactors at the plant.

Bradbury said his crews temporarily stopped work at the site on Monday after high winds caused the metal building addition’s walls to shift. A contractor was brought in to shore up the steel supports to replace a crane that has been holding up the building since last Friday.

At about 12:45 a.m. last Thursday, 911 operators received a report of an explosion at 9 Opportunity Way. Fire crews battled heavy fire conditions for approximately one hour. Five workers were in the building at the time, and four evacuated safely. The body of the missing worker, identified as 62-year-old Jack O’Keefe, was found on Thursday afternoon. The other four workers were treated at a local hospital and released.

Officials said that while the explosion appears related to a chemical manufacturing process and does not appear suspicious, the exact cause remains under investigation by the Newburyport Fire Department, State Police, and the Essex County District Attorney’s office.

The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have been at the site as well.

The tragedy has raised questions about the future of the plant that has a history of health, safety and environmental problems. This explosion was the third at the plant since 2020. It moved to the Newburyport plant in 2005 from a facility in Leominster, where there had been two explosions.

Newburyport Mayor Sean Reardon told the Newburyport Daily News he wants the plant closed until a full investigation is completed. He questioned whether it should be allowed to reopen.

Others questioned why the plant has been allowed to keep operating given its history.

“Why are we allowing companies to continue to operate knowing that there’s a laundry list of these kinds of concerns already brought to their attention?” Al Vega, chief of strategy for the Massachusetts Coalition For Occupational Safety And Health (MassCOSH), asked on WBUR radio. MassCOSH is a coalition that represents workers.

Senators Edward J. Markey and Elizabeth Warren and Representative Seth Moulton wrote to Seqens North America, the facility’s owner, seeking an explanation “as to why this latest incident occurred and how, after years of fines and regulatory enforcement actions, Seqens could have allowed unsafe conditions to persist.”

The company vowed to cooperate with all investigations.

“We strive to follow best practices and regulatory guidelines and have implemented safety protocols and procedures to prevent incidents like this from occurring,” the company said in a statement, adding that it is “fully committed to working closely with the authorities and relevant agencies to determine the cause of the incident.

Photo: Crews on-scene at hazardous materials explosion in Newburyport, Mass. on May 4,2023. (Photo Courtesy Newburyport Fire)

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