A devastating explosion at a Janesville manufacturing plant that critically injured two employees on March 18 has now turned fatal, the company confirmed Wednesday. Both workers were flown from the scene to hospitals with life-threatening injuries and later died. NaturPak says work in the affected section of the facility remains on hold while safety reviews play out.
Company response and outside review
Company crisis spokesperson Peter Duda said NaturPak "is deeply saddened by the passing of two of our team members" and noted that on-site counseling has been offered to employees, according to Fox 47. NaturPak has brought in dss+ to conduct an independent third-party review, which the company says will outline what has to happen before operations resume in the damaged area.
The manufacturer describes itself as a major Tetra Recart co-manufacturer based in Janesville, specializing in shelf-stable human and pet nutrition products.
Earlier incident raised questions
The deadly March 18 blast came barely a month after a February 11 industrial accident on the same Innovation Drive campus that left two employees burned and one airlifted by medflight to the UW Burn Center. Officials at the time called it a steam over-pressurization incident, as reported by WIFR.
Firefighters said that earlier event did not pose additional hazards to nearby homes and businesses, but it had already focused attention on the plant's pressure systems. Those February injuries are now folded into both the federal investigation and the company's internal review of the March 18 explosion.
OSHA probe and legal questions
According to Fox 47, OSHA inspectors arrived at the plant within about an hour of the March 18 accident, and NaturPak has said it will cooperate with the federal probe.
Federal rules require employers to report workplace fatalities to OSHA within eight hours and to report certain hospitalizations within 24 hours, which can trigger more in-depth inspections, per OSHA. Fox 47 also reported that police said a manager had previously told employees not to discuss the February 11 incident with law enforcement, an allegation investigators may weigh as they collect equipment records and witness statements.
What comes next for the plant
The federal team and the independent reviewers are expected to scrutinize maintenance logs, pressure-system documentation, employee interviews and equipment records in an effort to pinpoint what went wrong. NaturPak says it has extended condolences and support to the families of the workers who died and has kept operations in the affected area paused while safety work continues.
Officials have not yet made the victims' names public, and both local and federal representatives did not immediately respond to additional requests for comment.
