Washington state’s labor agency is investigating a fatal accident at Nippon Dynawave’s Longview facility to uncover a cause and potential safety violations.
LONGVIEW, Wash. — Washington state’s workplace safety agency has formally opened an investigation into the deadly accident at the Nippon Dynawave facility in Longview after all missing workers were recovered from the site.
The Washington State Department of Labor & Industries announced Monday that it has begun a workplace safety investigation to determine what caused the incident and whether any safety violations contributed to it.
“We’re committed to getting to the bottom of this and figuring out what happened,” L&I Director Joel Sacks said in a statement. “In the coming months, L&I will be conducting a detailed investigation seeking answers and accountability.”
As the state’s workplace safety regulator, L&I has the authority to cite employers and issue fines for violations of workplace health and safety rules. By law, investigations must be completed within 180 days, though officials said they expect to use the full timeline because of the complexity and scale of the case.
The agency said specialized inspectors with expertise in high-hazard chemical industries have been assigned to the investigation.
At the conclusion of the investigation, L&I will determine the root causes of the accident, whether workplace safety violations occurred and whether citations or penalties should be issued.
Any citations and penalties will be made public, the agency said. Nippon Dynawave would have 15 working days after receiving citations to appeal.
In addition to the safety investigation, L&I said it is working to connect the families of workers killed in the accident and injured employees with benefits available through Washington’s workers’ compensation system.
Meanwhile, the Washington Department of Ecology continues to monitor environmental impacts from the incident.
On Tuesday, crews planned to use a drone to inspect ditches near the facility while continuing to monitor pH levels in surrounding water. Officials said pH monitoring will continue through at least Wednesday to ensure efforts to dilute water exposed to white liquor have been successful.
To ensure diverse coverage and expert insight across a wide range of topics, our publication features contributions from multiple staff writers with varied areas of expertise.
