It was January 2021. Workers at the former Foundation Food Group poultry processing plant in Gainesville used liquid nitrogen to freeze pre-made poultry products quickly. Liquid nitrogen escaped from a bent tube and sent up a nearly 5-foot vapor cloud.
Nitrogen is colorless and odorless.
Three people entered the room and died immediately of asphyxiation. Several more people rushed to help their coworkers, while two more died on-site and one on the way to the hospital.
After a years-long investigation, the federal Chemical Safety Board released its report of the event in December, saying it was preventable. The CSB also issued twelve safety-focused recommendations to the entities involved, including Messer LLC, which leased the freezer involved in the leak, and the Occupational Health and Safety Administration.
Drew Sahli is an investigator with the agency who worked on the report.
“From a certain perspective,” he said, “all accidents are preventable in some way, right?”
Some CSB recommendations included developing a national standard on how to safely handle cryogenic asphyxiants like liquid nitrogen and making sure local first responders know what kinds of chemicals are being used.
“Many of those activities that we call out in the report, many companies are required to do if the chemicals that they process are on the list of covered chemicals,” Sahli said. “Liquid nitrogen is not on that list.”
While CSB provided recommendations, OSHA fined Foundation Food Group just over half a million dollars. OSHA also fined Messer nearly 75 thousand dollars.
Foundation Food Group did not respond to requests for comment. A new corporation, Gold Creek Foods, now owns the processing plant. It did not respond to requests for comment either.
Messer, who leased the freezer, said in a statement to WABE that the company is cooperating with CSB and considering its recommendations.
“As CSB recognizes in its report, Messer has developed several enhancements and robust customer safety inspection practices since the incident to provide additional layers of protection against the possibility of a liquid nitrogen overflow.”
When OSHA levies fines against a company, that company can appeal in the first two weeks. Companies often appeal, which can be an expensive process.
Messer reached an informal settlement with OSHA. Foundation Food Group is still contesting the fines, which go directly to the U.S. Treasury.
At least two people who died were Mexican citizens working in Georgia on visas, and others killed and injured were immigrants. Gainesville’s poultry industry employs a significant number of them.
“The problem we have is that these workers are not informed that they have rights regardless of immigration status,” said Shelly Anand, an attorney who founded Sur Legal, an immigrant rights organization.
“They know that the work is dangerous. They know that there are risks involved,” she said. “What they don’t know is the obligation of the employer to keep them safe.”
Anand and other advocates helped win protections for immigrant workers last year – now, immigrants working in the US can apply for deportation protection if they are involved in a labor dispute.
Meanwhile, the facility is still open and operating. Gold Creek Foods now owns the building, but no longer uses liquid nitrogen in it. OSHA data shows there have been a few OSHA violations at the facility since.
