CORN MILLING COMPANY ORDERED TO PAY $10.25 MILLION IN RESTITUTION
According to a press release issued by the United States Department of Justice, a group of officials associated with the Didion Milling company -- including its corporate VP and former food safety, environmental and operation managers -- were sentenced in mid-February for their respective acts and omissions which led an explosion which killed five employees and caused significant property damage.
The company, which is engaged in corn milling, is governed by an array of regulations, because of the combustible nature of the grain dust produced. In addition to the implementation of dust cleaning practices and procedures, air pollution prevention equipment is also required to be maintained.
Apparently, certain officials at this company falsified sanitation logs and other pertinent records and disregarded the governing workplace safety requirements, which misconduct eventually led to a fire which triggered a series of explosions (on May 31, 2017). Five employees were killed, others were seriously injured, while multiple mill buildings collapsed.
The men in question are also said to have lied under oath during the ensuing investigations.
In addition to the varying sentences and prison terms imposed against those officials, the company was directed to pay $10.25 million in restitution to the victims together with a $1 million fine. (Didion will also be subjected to future oversight of its operations.)
In a written statement, Attorney General Merrick B. Garland noted that “These defendants put Didion workers in grave danger and five people tragically lost their lives, devastating their families and their community …. Companies of all sizes should take note: failure to comply with our country’s workplace safety and environmental laws can cost workers their lives and put individual corporate managers in federal prison.”
Assistant Attorney General Todd Kim of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division added, “Workplace and environmental safety are of paramount importance … We will continue seeking to enforce regulations designed to prevent workplace disasters, and also to punish deceptive conduct that would undermine the administration of these important federal programs.”
They sure kicked up the dust there ….
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