(The Center Square) – Officials have urged the press and community not to speculate about the cause of a deadly explosion at a U.S. Steel plant in Clairton, near Pittsburgh, on Monday.
Gov. Josh Shapiro joined county officials, union representatives, and U.S. Steel CEO David Burritt to discuss the incident in Allegheny County Tuesday.
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County Executive Sara Innamorato expressed gratitude to the dozens of local agencies who responded to the incident. They were able to evacuate ten injured workers who are currently receiving medical care.
Two more employees were killed. One, “TQ,” was a second generation steel worker and father of three. The other’s family has asked to remain anonymous. Officials and U.S. Steel extended condolences and shared commitment to understand what happened.
“I have assurance from U.S. Steel that they will continue to cooperate fully with our team at Allegheny County to get the information we need to do a thorough investigation,” said Innamorato.
Innamarato noted that the stay-at-home order issued for local residents out of an “abundance of caution” Monday had been lifted and air quality tests show everything to be within acceptable levels. Her department is working with the Department of Environmental Protection, or DEP, and the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency, or PEMA to ensure everyone’s safety.
“We all want to remain vigilant,” said Shapiro of air and water quality in the region.
The explosion has brought up longstanding questions of health, safety and pollution around the coke plant itself.
“It shouldn’t be as dangerous as it was yesterday, and we owe them some answers,” said Shapiro.
United Steelworkers District 10 Director Bernie Hall spoke on behalf of the union, which recently saw a mix of celebration and trepidation when a deal was approved to allow Japan’s Nippon Steel to acquire U.S. Steel.
“Health and safety is at the core of the work we do as a union, and every worker deserves to go home every day,” said Hall.
Burritt said that he had been in contact with executives at Nippon over the past two days and that the Mon Valley facility was “here to stay.”
“We’re investing money here, and we wouldn’t have done the deal with Nippon steel if we weren’t absolutely sure that we were going to have an enduring future here,” said Burritt.
The facility itself continues to operate without batteries 13, 14, 19 and 20, which are part of the company’s investigation and repair process. Asked whether Nippon would be making investments to update technologies and ensure safer working conditions, Burritt emphasized the importance of understanding what had gone wrong.
Scott Buckiso, senior vice president and chief manufacturing officer of the plant’s North American Flat-Rolled division, said their primary focus was taking care of the deceased and injured and their loved ones, followed by determining what caused the explosion.
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When a member of the press questioned Burritt on employee allegations that safety was “reactive” rather than “preventative,” Burritt said he was “shocked and outraged at that statement.”
“There is no risk at this point in time if there would become a risk, we would obviously shut it down immediately,” said Burritt. “We expect our employees to have big voices so we can make the intelligent choices, and we count on them each and every day to make safety first.”