BY JANET C. WETZEL
The Cincinnati Enquirer
FAIRFIELD -- A chemical accident at Tedia Co. Inc. has led federal and local authorities to investigate the company's safety practices and whether it complies with chemical reporting laws.
A representative of Tedia, a Symmes Road company that processes and repackages chemicals, said his company has done nothing wrong. A U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) inspection team spent most of the day Thursday at Tedia investigating the site and Wednesday's incident. The explosion and fire caused an estimated $10,000 damage and hurt three workers.
OSHA had no details Thursday on any possible violations in the Tedia incident or the company in general, said Dennis Collins, OSHA assistant area director.
"At this point our focus is on the accident itself," he said, adding the time required for the investigation will depend on what the team finds. No information was available on whether the company has had past violations.
Officials with Butler County Emergency Management Agency, the Butler County Local Emergency Planning Committee and Fairfield Fire Department plan to meet Monday "to try to determine if there are violations," Fairfield Fire Chief Don Bennett said.
Ohio law requires companies to file a report to the appropriate county when established amounts of specific chemicals are on site, Chief Bennett said.
William Turner, director of the Emergency Management Agency, said he has not found the reports on chemicals at Tedia. Some companies overlook the need to file the reports, he said, but "some try to ignore it."
"We want to make sure they are aware of the regulations and comply with them," he said. "I just want to make sure our police, fire and emergency crews know what's there so we can plan how to handle an emergency there if necessary."
Three injured workers were treated and released by hospitals after a volatile chemical, carbon disulfide, caught fire about 1 p.m. Wednesday.
Chief Bennett said he initially was concerned the entire building might explode, but firefighters managed to knock down the fire and contain the chemical quickly. About 500 workers from nearby businesses were evacuated.
A company representative declined to discuss details of the accident or give a dollar amount on the loss. Tedia officials also declined to discuss OSHA's investigation, saying it was an accident and not caused by a safety violation.
Chief Bennett said the accident likely will draw considerable attention from safety officials because this is the third fire at Tedia in the past 14 years.
"We've always had concerns about the safe handling of chemicals in that business," the chief said. "And it's always been a concern whether employees receive adequate training for the safe handling of chemicals -- knowing what they're dealing with and what to do in the case of an emergency."
Chief Bennett said his department will continue investigating to determine what caused the chemical to ignite. It was initially thought it caught fire when the bottle was dropped, but reports now indicate it may have ignited while being cleaned up.
No environmental contamination was discovered, and the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency has no plans for further investigation, said Lynne Barst, media coordinator for the agency southwest district office.
