The attorneys representing families of the victims dispute Tennessee OHSA’s findings
- On Sept. 27, 2024, six Impact Plastics employees died during the floods caused by Hurricane Helene while holing onto a truck, after evacuating the factory
- The Tennessee Occupational Safety and Health Administration (TOSHA) began an investigation to find whether Impact Plastics was responsible for the employees’ deaths
- On April 2, TOSHA found that Impact Plastics was not responsible because the incident was “not work-related”
The Tennessee Occupational Safety and Health Administration (TOSHA) found that Impact Plastics Inc., a factory in Erwin, Tenn., is not responsible for the deaths of six factory workers who died in flooding from last year’s Hurricane Helene, according to the Associated Press , NBC News and WJHL .
TOSHA said on Wednesday, April 2, that the six employees had time to evacuate by “makeshift routes.”
Five employees and one contractor who cleaned the facility were killed in the hurricane’s floods on Sept. 27. TOSHA began its investigation on Oct. 3. The victims were Monica Hernandez-Corona, 44; Bertha Mendoza, 56; Johnny Peterson, 55; Lidia Verdugo Gastelum, 63; Rosa Maria Andrade Reynoso, 29; and Sibrina Barnett, 53…