Jack O’Keefe, 62, of Methuen, has been identified as the victim who died during the chemical explosion that heavily damaged a Newburyport pharmaceutical plant and sent equipment flying into the parking lot.
O’Keefe had been working in the facility’s production area when the explosion unfolded around 12:45 Thursday morning, Newburyport Deputy Fire Chief Barry Salt told reporters Friday.
Four other workers got out of the building safely before being taken to an area hospital as a precaution. They were released later on Thursday, according to authorities.
The explosion happened during a chemical process that the company, Seqens, performs continually everyday, and authorities are looking into how and what caused it, Salt said.
Salt called the incident an “unfortunate accident” and offered condolences to O’Keefe’s family.
“We would like to recall his memory and let the family know we, as a fire department and as a city, are thinking of them”
Firefighters in the North Shore city, receiving mutual aid from area municipalities and the state Fire Marshal’s Office, focused Friday on mitigating hazardous materials that remained on site, located in an industrial park near Route 1.
Salt said the crews faced ventilation and fire hazards because they were working with “highly flammable” material. The environment and community at large remains safe, he said, adding, it was fortunate the explosion happened overnight with not many people around.
“The concern is to keep the ignition sources down to keep the people’s respiratory systems clean and to be able to work to safely finish the day out without incident,” Salt said of the emergency responders who remained busy at the site Friday.
Firefighters and tech rescue crews recovered O’Keefe’s body around 5:30 p.m. Thursday from the most damaged part of the building, an area deemed too dangerous to search earlier in the day.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is helping out in the investigation. Thursday’s incident isn’t the first time the federal agency has been involved at the site.
In 2019, they found the plant in “serious” violation over its management of hazardous chemicals, according to OSHA online data.
In 2021, they were cited twice more by OSHA for violations related to flammable liquids and hazardous waste operations and emergency response. Media reports of this incident at the time describe fires and heavy smoke at the facility leading local authorities to declare a Tier 1 Hazmat incident.
The OSHA data shows a complaint as far back as January 2015 for exposure to hazardous chemicals, for which the agency issued a penalty that October.
Amplify Solutions, a leading consulting services company that assists facilities in compliance with OSHA’s safety standards for processing highly hazardous chemicals, tweeted Friday that “These types of catastrophic incidents are preventable with appropriate process safety management programs.”
“If you handle highly hazardous chemicals at your facility, please know that the proper implementation of the management systems … will protect your workers, your community, and your business from tragedies such as this,” the company added.
In a statement shared by WCVB, a Seqens company spokesperson said the explosion has “shocked” its entire group and employees. The company added it’s also working with authorities to determine what caused the explosion.
“The safety of our employees has always been, and continues to be, our top priority,” part of the statement reads. “We strive to follow best practices and regulatory guidelines, and have implemented safety protocols and procedures to prevent incidents like this from occurring.”