A settlement that requires Bayer CropScience to pay $5.6 million and make chemical safety improvements following a 2008 explosion that killed two people has been approved by the US District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia.
The violations occurred at Bayer’s facility in Institute, West Virginia.
In the court’s memorandum opinion and order, Judge John T. Copenhaver, Jr., writes “the evidence indicates that the 2008 explosion was the result of numerous, grave safety deficiencies at the plant…the proposed consent decree would minimize the risk of reoccurrence through its extensive reporting, approved self-assessment, and standard operating procedure revision requirements applicable not only at the Institute facility but at other Bayer plants in the United States and any others that are built or purchased by Bayer during the next ten years …”
Under the settlement, Bayer CropScience will spend $4.23 million to improve emergency preparedness and response in the Institute area, pay a $975,000 penalty, and spend about $452,000 to implement a series of measures to improve safety at their chemical storage facilities across the US.