WASHINGTON—The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has proposed penalties of nearly $8.7 million against Imperial Sugar Co. and its two affiliates, alleging violations at their plants in Port Wentworth, Ga., and Gramercy, La., the safety agency announced Friday afternoon.
The citations followed an explosion and fire on Feb. 7, 2008, at the Port Wentworth refinery that killed 13 employees and hospitalized 40 others. Three employees remain hospitalized.
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(RTTNews) - The Occupational Safety and Health Administration said Friday that it has proposed fines totaling about $8.8 million against the Imperial Sugar

SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) - Federal officials said Friday that Imperial Sugar Co. should face fines of more than $8.7 million for violations at two plants, including a Georgia facility where an explosion killed 13 people.
The fines would be the third-highest in the history of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's nearly 40-year existence. They include $5 million for the explosion near Savannah on Feb. 7 and $3.7 million for the plant in Gramercy, La.
e said at a news conference in Savannah.

SAVANNAH, Ga. - Federal officials proposed more than $8.7 in fines today against Imperial Sugar Company for violations at a Georgia plant where an explosion this year killed 13 people and at another plant in Louisiana.
The fines would be the third-highest in the history of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and include $5 million for the explosion near Savannah and $3.7 million for the plant in Gramercy, Louisiana.
y, Slaying

Jul 23, 2008 (Savannah Morning News - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- IPSU | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- The top executive at Imperial Sugar Co. expects "significant" safety citations related to the deadly Feb. 7 explosions and fire at the firm's Port Wentworth refinery.
CEO John Sheptor said Wednesday it's "very likely" the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration will issue those citations Friday. Scroll to the bottom to hear more from Imperial Sugar CEO John Sheptor, as well as watch past video coverage of the explosion.
t helped cause the fire.

By Randi Hempel Citations include 108 willful violations related to combustible dust hazard including failure to clean up dust and not using appropraite

OUR DEMOCRATIC-controlled Congress has often borne the criticism that it is more interested in digging up dirt on the Bush administration than in producing substantive legislation.
On Tuesday, when the Senate subcommittee on employment and the workplace takes up the bill to impose stricter regulations on explosive dust collection and clean-up, Democratic leaders should avoid entangling the bill in fruitless Bush-bashing, and get the measure passed.
he bill mirror recommendations made to OSHA in 2006 by the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board. The Chemical Safety Board has no policing authority, but investigates the causes of industrial accidents for federal regulators.

July 25 (Reuters) - An Imperial Sugar Co (IPSU.O: Quote, Profile, Research) official is likely to testify before a Senate hearing on Tuesday that he warned the company about dangerous conditions at a Georgia refinery that was destroyed months later in a blast, The Wall Street Journal said, citing people familiar with the matter.
Graham H. Graham, Imperial Sugar's vice president of operations, will tell the Senate Subcommittee on Employment and Workplace Safety that after being hired in November, he was disturbed by what he considered an excess of sugar dust at the facility and a similar company plant in Louisiana.
gher; peso flat

AP -- Federal investigators are ready to release their report on the deadly Feb. 7 explosion at the Imperial Sugar refinery near Savannah.