Workers warned company on safety before explosion killed three

by Paul Kaczocha

This article was reprinted from the April 6, 1996 issue of the People's Weekly World. For subscription information see below. All rights reserved - may be used with PWW credits.

PORTAGE, Ind. - Three workers were killed and eight more injured, two seriously, when a 40-foot high pressure water tank exploded during the 7 a.m. shift change March 27 at Beta Steel, a rogue mini-mill built in 1992. The massive explosion, which was felt as far away as 30 miles, rocked this steel mill community and nearby Gary.

As we went to press April 3, an explosion had rocked the USX Gary Works in Gary, Indiana. Three workers went to the hospital, two of them with second degree burns. They were later transferred to Chicago's Loyola Hospital burn unit.

Beta Steel was built on state-owned property at the Port of Indiana located on the southern tip of Lake Michigan in between National Steel's Midwest plant and Bethlehem Steel's Burns Harbor plant. The blast demolished two sides and part of the roof of the complex, but the lives of families of the victims were the greatest destruction.

Killed in the explosion were Dennis Janiszewski, 36, survived by his wife, mother and two brothers; Kevin Myers, 35, survived by his wife and two young sons, his mother, brother and two sisters; and Mario Ortiz Sr., 25, survived by his wife and five children and his mother and grandmother. All the workers were working the midnight shift.

Kevin Myers' brother angrily denounced the safety record of Beta Steel. He claimed that his brother had warned of a problem with the tanks only days before. The company confirmed that the tank, which had walls that were one-and- a-half inches thick, was welded on a few days before.

According to one published report an unnamed coworker said that Myers told him that the pressure was so severe that the tank and nearby pipes were shaking so violently the paint came off. The pipes were jumping "six inches in each direction," he said. "It was like it was waiting to blow."

One of the injured workers, Doug Guzorek, told the local press that he was angry at Beta Steel for putting workers in such close proximity to a "time bomb."

One worker suggested to this reporter that the tank had a nitrogen charged accumulator that was improperly filled with oxygen. OSHA had found 31 violations during six inspections of the plant, but the company paid only $8,200 in fines after it had the $18,000 in fines reduced. An electrical fire in July of 1994 was made worse when Portage firefighters found two fire hydrants that did not work. It has also been reported that the company did not register the high-pressure tank with the Boiler and Pressure Vessel Safety Division of the Indiana Department of Fire and Building Services.

When the company was first getting started, there was a loud protest from the United Steelworkers over the millions of dollars in tax abatements that the company was getting to build the plant on state property. About 200 people work at the plant.

The company was planning to start two electric arc furnaces for melting scrap steel this spring. In lieu of the scrap melters the company has been buying slabs mostly from Mexico and Spain, which had brought protests from the local steelworker union locals. Beta is represented by the International Longshoremen's Association in an agreement that was signed before the plant was built. The wage scale is allegedly lower than most non-union mini-mills.

Beta produces 600,000 to 750,000 tons of steel coils per year. It is considered a rogue company. They are not part of the American Iron and Steel Institute. They are privately- held by an investor group led by New York real estate developer Nikos Kefalidis.

Of the 64 fatalities of workers in primary metal industries in 1994, including iron and steel foundries, 8 percent died in explosions and fires, according to the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics. According to the USWA, seven of its members were killed on the job in 1995.