The final pretrial hearing in the Williams plant explosion is set to be argued Thursday, August 4th.
After the Geismar plant exploded in June 2013, causing two deaths and 114 non-fatal injuries, an investigation by the Occupational Safety & Health Administration found that the explosion resulted from a “willful violation” on behalf of Williams. This resulted in lawsuits filed by or on behalf of injured workers.
The injured workers said that Williams, key management figures, and other named defendants knew of a critical safety defect in the plant’s operations for years.
Specifically, that one of two boilers used in the refinery process was isolated from pressure relief — which meant there was a risk of over-pressurization and explosion, a spokesperson said.
The spokesperson for the plaintiff claims that plant supervision understood the risk.
Attorneys for the plaintiffs will argue against Williams’ motion to have the case dismissed, despite the fact that the Court, First Circuit Court of Appeals, and Louisiana Supreme Court have already denied defendants relief.
The first trial is set to begin September 6, 2016 in Port Allen, LA.