Jury convicts employer of federal crimes
July 1, 1999 3 minutes read
Jury convicts employer of federal crimes
In a case that may remind employers there is more to fear from safety shortcomings than just a big fine, a federal jury has convicted an Idaho man of knowingly endangering the safety and health of his employees in a series of actions that left a 20-year-old employee with permanent brain damage from cyanide poisoning.
The Department of Justice and the U.S. Attor-ney’s Office for the District of Idaho announced the verdict recently. A jury in Pocatello, ID, found on May 7 that Allan Elias ordered employees of Evergreen Resources, a fertilizer manufacturing company he owned, to enter and clean out a 25,000-gallon storage tank containing cyanide without taking required precautions to protect his employees.
Occupational Safety and Health Administra-tion (OSHA) inspectors repeatedly had warned Elias about the dangers of cyanide and explained the precautions he must take before sending his employees into the tank, such as testing for hazardous materials and giving workers protective gear.
Scott Dominguez, an Evergreen Resources employee, was overcome by hydrogen cyanide gas while cleaning the tank and sustained permanent brain damage as a result of cyanide poisoning. "This was a knowing act that brought tragedy to a young man and his family," Acting U.S. Attorney Terry Derden said in a statement released after the verdict. "The Idaho jury has spoken, and justice has been served by this important verdict."
The jury convicted Elias of three counts of violating the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). In addition to the RCRA charge that Elias knowingly endangered his employees, Elias was convicted under RCRA of illegally disposing of hazardous cyanide waste on two separate occasions at Evergreen’s Soda Springs, ID, facility. He faces a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison for knowing endangerment. Sentencing is set for Aug. 2.
No protective gear provided
Over a period of two days in August 1996, Elias directed his employees — wearing only jeans and T-shirts — to enter a 11-foot-high, 36-foot-long storage tank and clean out cyanide waste from a mining operation he owned. Elias did not first test the material inside the tank for toxicity, nor did he determine the amount of toxic gases present. After the first day of working inside the tank, several employees met with Elias and told him that working in the tank was giving them sore throats, which is an early symptom of exposure to hydrogen cyanide gas.
The employees asked Elias to test the air in the tank for toxic gases and bring them protective gear — which is required by OSHA and was available to the defendant free of charge in this case.
Elias did not provide the protective gear, and he ordered the employees to go back into the tank, falsely assuring them that he would get them the equipment they sought. Later that morning, Dominguez collapsed inside the tank. He could not be rescued for nearly an hour because Elias had not given employees the required rescue equipment.
"The defendant found guilty of this horrific crime showed absolutely no regard for the safety of his workers or for the protection of the environment," said Steve Herman, assistant administrator in the Office of Enforcement and Compli- ance Assurance for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
"The severe injury inflicted upon the victim is a sad reminder of what can happen when our environmental laws are abused, and we rededicate ourselves to the vigorous prosecution of such violations," he said.
The defendant also was convicted of making a false statement to OSHA by fabricating and backdating a safety plan for entering the storage tank containing cyanide. Elias told rescue workers and emergency room personnel that the storage tank contained nothing that could injure employees, and he specifically denied that cyanide was in the tank.
The day after Dominguez was critically injured, Elias prepared a backdated safety permit that falsely stated that employees had been given safety gear before they entered the tank.
The case was brought following a 22-month investigation by the EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division and the Criminal Investigation Division of the Internal Revenue Service, with assistance from the Occupational Safety and Health Admin istration and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Also assisting in the investigation were the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare’s Division of Environmental Quality and the Idaho State Police Department. n
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