A federal agency is expected to announce this week the findings and recommendations of its investigation into the 2011 explosion at a Waikele hillside storage facility that killed five workers dismantling illegal fireworks seized by the government.
The report could have national implications.
The U.S. Chemical Safety Board, in a news release announcing Thursday’s public meeting in Washington, D.C., said its preliminary report shows "there are no national standards for safely disposing of fireworks," that the company contracted to dispose of the explosives used "extremely unsafe" procedures and that "government contracts for this contained inadequate safety requirements."
The board is expected to approve the findings and safety recommendations of its investigative team.
Killed in the April 8, 2011, explosion were Bryan Dean Cabalce, Robert Freeman, Justin Joseph Keli‘i, Robert Leahey and Neil Sprankle. The five men worked for Donaldson Enterprises, which had been hired by Delaware-based VSE Corp., a federal contractor paid to destroy seized illegal fireworks. A sixth man, described as the project supervisor, was making a phone call outside the cave and survived the explosion.
According to previous investigations, the men were dismantling illegal fireworks in one of the storage caves — converted bunkers that were constructed by the military during World War II — so the fireworks could be destroyed at a different site.
The explosion hurled debris 150 feet from the entrance of the bunker.
Families of the victims have sued various companies involved with the operation, alleging that they were negligent or reckless in allowing hazardous work to be done in an unsafe manner. Donaldson Enterprises is not named in the lawsuit because state workers’ compensation law bars employees from suing their employers for work-related injury and death.
Regulations listed on the website of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives specify that fireworks are to be stored at least 200 feet from the facilities where they are being processed.
Standard practice also is to not try to dismantle fireworks until they are at or near the site where they are to be destroyed, according to a national expert who spoke to the Star-Advertiser in the weeks after the explosion.
According to the lawsuits filed by the families, witnesses said the men were dismantling the fireworks outside the bunker when it began to rain; they moved the operation inside the bunker.
Donaldson Enterprises is appealing a state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations Hawaii Occupational Safety and Health Division fine of $415,200 for violating health and safety laws.
The alleged violations included failure to use antistatic materials, failure to provide ample exits and failure to keep employee cars, which can produce sparks, more than 50 feet from the bunker entrance.
In September a federal grand jury indicted Charles Donaldson, Donaldson Enterprises’ then-director of operations, and project manager Carlton Finley, alleging they engaged in the unpermitted treatment of hazardous wastes.
Both men pleaded not guilty and are each free on $100,000 unsecured, signature bond and can travel to Guam and communicate with each other for work.
Court documents show jury selection and trial scheduled to begin in April before Judge Susan Oki Mollway.
Attorney Steve Hisaka, who represents the family of Justin Joseph Keli‘i, said in an interview Monday, "We understand through our own research that there are no federal regulations regarding the disposal of fireworks, and we are hoping that regulations regarding this will be promulgated that will avoid other accidents like this."
Hisaka also said he is hopeful the families will be able to see all of the information gathered by the Chemical Safety Board. "They’ve had access to resources that we don’t yet have," he said.
