Five injured in explosion at sugar beet factory
29 September 2020
Five workers were injured in an explosion on September 28 at a sugar beet processing plant in Idaho, US. The blast happened in the city of Nampa at a factory belonging to the Amalgamated Sugar Company.
Representative image: Shutterstock
According to local news, the explosion happened at around 07:45 local time and occurred in a sugar beet pulp steam dryer. Local news reports that all five injured employees were wearing fire-protection clothing and equipment at the time of the blast. Wearing PPE is part of the procedure of opening the steam dryer at the factory.
Four workers were treated by paramedics at the factory while one person was taken to a nearby hospital. All five are expected to make a full recovery.
The US Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has opened an investigation into the incident.
According to its website, the Amalgamated Sugar Company is the second largest refiner and processor of sugar from sugar beets in the United States.