BATON ROUGE (AP) — Federal regulators have decreased fines assessed against Williams Olefins over a June 2013 explosion at its plant in Ascension and Iberville parishes that killed two and injured more than 100 people.
The Advocate’s David J. Mitchell reports the reductions are part of a settlement between the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration and Williams that ended a challenge of six violations and related fines against the Tulsa, OK, company.
Among several changes brought by the settlement, OSHA agreed to reduce the most significant charge from a "willful" violation to a "serious" one.
The change from willful to serious violation also came with a reduction in Williams' fine. As a result, the settlement says Williams' combined the fines for the deadly explosion fell from $99,000 to $36,000.
