Click to enlarge, then look for Louisiana way over at the left, in black.
An explosion and fire at a Louisiana chemical plant Thursday killed one and injured many more, with 73 sent to area hospitals, according to reports.
State police said the fire had been extinguished on Thursday afternoon. A state police Hazmat unit continued a controlled burn. The cause of the fire remained undetermined, said Slaton.
The plant is located in Geismar, La., about 60 miles northwest of New Orleans and 20 miles southeast of Baton Rouge. The area was described by officials as unincorporated and largely industrial.
“We’re continuing to do a head count for every single person who was on site,” state police Capt. Doug Cain told WVLA. “Hazmat crews are now going on ground at the site to see what remains.”
Some context as we wait to learn more:
- The workplace fatality rate in Louisiana is 6.3 per 100,000 workers. For the nation as a whole, it is 3.5 per 100,000 workers.
- Louisiana is one of seven states where it would take the Occupational Safety and Health Administration 150 years or more to visit every workplace once.
- Louisiana is one of seven states where there are more than 100,000 workers for every OSHA inspector.
Accidents happen and no state has a perfect workplace safety record. But some of them have really bad records, Louisiana among them.