Rosemount Plant, Employer Cited for Fatal Accident

Associated Press

MINNEAPOLIS -- A Rosemount fertilizer plant and an Oklahoma trucking firm that employed two men who died in an ammonia accident have been cited by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

Thirty-one-year-old Robert Shue and 56-year-old Roy Taylor, both of Oklahoma, were exposed to anhydrous ammonia at CF Industries Nov. 16 when piping on a tanker truck failed, releasing poisonous vapors. Shue died at the scene. Taylor died two weeks later at the hospital.

OSHA said Tuesday the men's employer, High Pressure Transport of Kingfisher, Okla., paid a $25,000 penalty for failing to provide safe working conditions.

The Star Tribune says CF Industries was fined $1,400 for failing to make sure all emergency respirators were inspected monthly.