March 06--GRUBVILLE -- Three men working to assemble fireworks inside a tiny concrete building at a Jefferson County pyrotechnics company were hurt in an explosion this morning, authorities say.
One of the men suffered severe burns and was taken from the scene by medical helicopter to Mercy Hospital St. Louis' burn unit in Creve Coeur. Paramedics initially reported that the man had burns over 90 percent of his body.
Two others had non-life threatening injuries and were taken by ambulance to a local hospital, said Capt. Ralph Brown of the Jefferson County sheriff's office.
The fire at Global Pyrotechnic Solutions was reported at about 7 a.m. The company is at 10476 Sunset Drive, off of Highway Y, in the southwest corner of Jefferson County.
Several deputies with the Jefferson County Sheriff's Department are on the scene, and the state fire marshal's office has been notified. Brown said investigators with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms will be leading the probe.
Details about what caused the explosion were not immediately available. Trista Frederick, a spokeswoman with the ATF in Kansas City, said shortly before noon today that she had not yet been briefed by investigators on the site about what led to the explosion. The ATF investigates anytime explosives are involved.
The most severely injured man is 33 years old; the other two men are 22 and 23, Brown said.
Terry Soer, chief of the Cedar Hill Fire Protection District, said his crews were the first firefighters to get to the plant. They arrived in six to eight minutes, he said, and the fire had already been put out. He said the fire was contained to a 15-foot square building made of concrete and wood. It is one of several buildings on the property.
Two workers at the facility, who declined to be identified, said they were working at a different part of the sprawling plant when the explosion happened. After the explosion, they saw all three of the victims disoriented but walking and talking. They said there were no signs from the exterior of the building that there had been a flash explosion inside.
The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration sent a compliance officer from its St. Louis office to investigate this morning's fireworks explosion. According to OSHA's website, Global Pyrotechnic Solutions hasn't been cited for any workplace violations. However, the company has ties to Sunset Fireworks and Pyro Products Inc.
OSHA cited Pyro Products for allegedly violating four safety rules leading to an explosion that injured three women at the Grubville plant in June 2001. That blast marked the third accident at the plant in less than three years. Explosions in 1999 and 2000 killed two women and injured two others. Pyro Products negotiated settlements with OSHA for those two fatal incidents.
Global was incorporated in 2003, and some of its founders have ties to Pyro Products and Sunset Fireworks.
Global's company website says it "rose like a phoenix out of the literal and figurative ashes of Pyro Products, Inc." Global says it has an exemplary safety record but was "saddled with Pyro Products work comp rating factor" when it first began operating. Company executives Gerald Walker and Lisa Govro could not be reached for comment.
Global's website says the company was "created with the blessing of the federal regulators as a way to recognize that the problems with Pyro Products were not the resort of unsafe activity, but poor management decisions with the former president and chief financial officer."
Global says its upper management has more than 50 years of pyrotechnic experience. Global says none of the three accidents the old company, Pyro Products, suffered was ever linked to any cause other than "human error." Global said it has addressed those human factors that could have lead to the string of accidents. The company says it trains its workers on the latest manufacturing techniques and consults with two safety experts.
Copyright 2012 - St. Louis Post-Dispatch
