Company faces fines in Waikele explosion

The results of a state investigation that found a company to blame for a fireworks blast that killed five employees in a Waikele bunker in April is still far from bringing closure, family and friends of the victims said.

The state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations released a statement late Friday afternoon saying that an investigation into the explosion found 11 possible causes of the blast, but the underlying cause could not be determined.

The department did not return calls for further comment.

The state proposed a $415,200 fine against the company, Donaldson Enterprises Inc., for several citations that carry penalties for violating health or safety laws.

Donaldson Enterprises can contest the charges. When reached by phone at her home, Ryoko Donaldson, wife of the company’s founder, said she could not comment, under advice from her lawyer.

The explosion happened the morning of April 8 as the employees were taking apart commercial-grade cake-style fireworks within a bunker at Waikele Self Storage, killing five and injuring a sixth man. Because of the magnitude of the event, a multi-agency team of county, state and federal authorities was created to investigate.

Jennifer Shishido, an administrator in the Labor Department, said in the release that the state’s investigation ended before a single cause was pinpointed because of "so many unsafe working conditions and work practices that could have caused the explosion."

"To continue efforts to find a single cause would neither be productive nor serve our mission of assuring safe and healthful working conditions for every working person in the state," she said.

Donaldson was cited for several failures, including not using antistatic materials; not providing at least two exits; not storing flammable liquids away from exits; not separating work with pyrotechnics away from other explosives; not controlling the presence of combustible materials; not moving spark-producing devices, such as cars, more than 50 feet away from the bunker entrance; not erecting proper warning signs; and not requiring employees to wear the proper protective gear.

The five killed were Neil Benjiman Sprankle, 24; Robert Kevin Freeman, 24; Bryan Cabalce, 25; Justin Kelii, 29; and Robert Leahey, 50.

Jim Leahey, brother of Robert Leahey, said there are still a lot of answers that could come from the other investigations before finding closure. "What it does is bring more concerns with what is going on here," he said. "The tragedy, of course, is there’s nobody coming back."

Dwight Takamine, director of the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, said his thoughts were with the families of the five men killed and urged employers who work with pyrotechnic materials "to take appropriate actions to prevent any similar incident."

The Honolulu Fire Department never found a cause for the explosion after completing its investigation in July. Federal agencies still investigating include the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the U.S. Chemical Safety Board; and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration Health Response Team.

The federal agencies are awaiting lab results, such as the composition of the fireworks, the sensitivity to ignition of the materials in the bunker, and metallurgical testing of the tools, the state said.