Explosion and fire at plant; severely burned worker dies in hospital. Charges brought against company president

The Legnica District Prosecutor’s Office filed an indictment in April this year against 57-year-old Mariusz M., president of the management board of PSF Energia Sp. z o.o. in Wilków near Złotoryja. Investigators accuse M. of “causing an explosion and fire in the tire pyrolysis (recycling) plant he managed in May 2022, which led to the death of one of the workers.”

– The indictment also concerns the illegal storage of hazardous waste in a manner that could have posed a threat to human life or health and could have caused a deterioration in the quality of water or soil, or destruction of plant or animal life – explains Liliana Łukasiewicz, press spokesperson for the Legnica District Prosecutor’s Office.

PSF Energia Sp. z o.o., based in Wilków, held a permit to process waste. Following an explosion at the plant during the pyrolysis process on January 3, 2020, one of the reactors was damaged and had to be replaced.

The company purchased a device for self-assembly. The spokesperson said: – As president, the defendant stated that he had the necessary knowledge, experience and qualifications required to properly install the system, and undertook to carry out the work with particular care – taking into account the standards and rules for performing such work, as well as occupational health and safety and fire-safety regulations.

She also stressed:

This was not true. The line was installed carelessly, and a worker who lacked the proper qualifications was assigned to operate it and had not been trained in occupational health and safety, as he had been hired solely to sort rubber waste in the storage yard.

On May 6, 2022, at approximately 3:49 p.m., the reactor exploded. Its cover was thrown approximately 8 meters away. The fire then spread very quickly. At the time of the explosion, two workers, including the 51-year-old injured Ukrainian national, were present in the production hall. Two other workers were also working elsewhere on the plant premises.

The injured man suffered burns to his head, torso and lower limbs covering 80% of his body, as well as burns to his airways. He was transported in critical condition by the air ambulance service to a hospital in Poznań. His right leg was amputated because of acute ischemia. Despite intensive treatment, the man died in hospital six days later.

Prosecutor:

During the investigation, expert opinions were obtained in occupational health and safety, fire protection and environmental protection, as well as opinions from experts at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering of Wrocław University of Science and Technology concerning the causes of the pyrolysis reactor explosion. They provided grounds for charging Mariusz M. with the fact that, as president of the management board responsible for the operation of the plant, including ensuring safe and hygienic working conditions as an employer, he failed to fulfill his resulting duties and, acting intentionally with conditional intent, exposed workers to the direct danger of loss of life or serious injury, creating a direct danger of an event threatening the life or health of many people and property on a large scale in the form of a fire and explosion of flammable materials or another sudden release of energy – by accepting that, despite lacking the qualifications to supervise and carry out the installation and operation of the system, he installed a tire pyrolysis line despite the absence of detailed design documentation, without equipping the system with the necessary temperature and pressure measurement systems, and without any checks confirming that the installation had been carried out correctly. As a result, the incorrectly constructed structure had leaks threatening the safe operation of the process. He also employed workers without the required qualifications to operate the line. As a result, acting unintentionally, on May 6, 2022, he caused an event threatening property on a large scale, namely an explosion of the reactor following the loss of tightness of the loading doors, which led to an explosion and then a fire. This resulted in the destruction of the production hall. In addition, a worker near the reactor, who had been authorized to operate the line despite having been hired to sort rubber waste, suffered burns to his airways and thermal burns covering 80% of his body, followed by multiple-organ failure, as a result of which he died on May 12, 2022, in a hospital in Poznań.

In the indictment, the prosecutor stated that the scale of irregularities at the PSF Energia Sp. z o.o. plant in Wilków – both in the construction of the equipment making up the pyrolysis line and in the course of the technological process – was so serious that production at the plant by those managing the workers must have involved awareness of the dangers caused by using the line.

Investigators: – At this plant, nine workplace accidents occurred between 2014 and 2020, including six connected with operating the tire pyrolysis line. Subsequent accidents were repeatedly caused by the same factor, resulting from defects in the pyrolysis line and the lack of an appropriate response from those managing the company.

For the act committed on May 6, 2022 (unintentionally causing a generally dangerous event resulting in a person’s death or serious injury to many people), the defendant faces a sentence of between six months and eight years in prison.

On June 17, 2023, at approximately 4:00 a.m., the fire service and police were notified of a fire at a tire storage site in Wilków (the PSF Energia Sp. z o.o. rubber-waste processing plant in Wilków). The plant premises were not monitored. Despite firefighting operations beginning immediately, the fire quickly spread across the entire storage site, measuring 80 by 80 meters. The fire service units that arrived at the scene were unable to control and extinguish the fire because of its scale and the amount of energy generated by burning tires. More than 25 fire service units and a firefighting aircraft took part in the rescue operation. Firefighting operations continued from June 17, 2023, until July 3, 2023.

An expert opinion in fire protection concluded that the fire had been caused by arson. The perpetrator was not identified, and proceedings in that regard were discontinued.

During an inspection of the area directly adjacent to the plant, several dozen plastic containers containing an unidentified liquid with a strong petroleum-like odor were found. Some of the containers were leaking.

According to an expert opinion in environmental protection, the containers held tire pyrolysis products, namely waste carbon black and pyrolysis oils. The carbon black contains hydrocarbon compounds with potentially toxic effects. Pyrolysis oils, in turn, contain aromatic hydrocarbons that may pose a threat to health and the environment, particularly when stored improperly. The expert indicated that waste of this type should be stored selectively on hardened and secured surfaces to minimize the risk of leaks and contamination, which was not observed at the storage site in Wilków. The prosecutor’s office said: – Responsibility for this state of affairs lies with the president of the management board of the company operating the storage site – Mariusz M.

Liliana Łukasiewicz:

In view of the above circumstances, Mariusz M. was also charged with the fact that, between June 30, 2023, and June 19, 2024, while serving as president of the management board and being responsible for compliance with environmental protection regulations, at the company’s premises in Wilków and on the directly adjacent plot, for which no permit to store waste had been issued, he stored waste consisting of pyrolysis oils and waste carbon black containing compounds with toxic effects on unsuitable, unhardened ground, contrary to the conditions specified in the permit issued by the Złotoryja County Governor for collecting waste and the permit issued by the Marshal of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship for processing (recovery) of waste. Some containers holding liquids were leaking, creating a situation that could have endangered human life or health and caused a deterioration in the quality of water or soil, or destruction of plant or animal life.

According to the prosecutor’s office, while holding the above position, he was aware that the requirements for operating the plant in accordance with the conditions set out in the administrative decisions obtained in connection with waste collection and plant operation had not been fulfilled. This offense carries a sentence of between one and ten years in prison.

Suspect Mariusz M., who had no previous criminal record, did not admit to the alleged offenses and refused to provide explanations.

The Legnica District Court conducted proceedings, among others, against Mariusz M. following an indictment by the Legnica District Prosecutor. In a judgment dated November 20, 2023, the Legnica District Court found Mariusz M. guilty of similar environmental protection offenses. However, the judgment is not final.

In this case, the defendant faces a sentence of between one and ten years in prison for the alleged offenses. The case will be heard by the Legnica District Court.

(Header photo: Złotoryja 112)