C6-Zero hasn’t paid $96K fine for worker safety violations

A Marengo company whose employees were injured in a fiery blast in December has failed to pay a nearly $96,000 fine for workplace safety violations.

C6-Zero, which was attempting to recycle roofing shingles when the explosion happened Dec. 8, 2022, agreed in May to pay $95,711 as part of a settlement with the Iowa Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

The company did not pay the fine by the mid-June deadline and hasn’t paid since, Iowa OSHA confirmed last week.

“C6-Zero has not paid the settlement amount they agreed to pay in the referenced agreement,” Stefanie Bond, Iowa OSHA spokeswoman said in an email Thursday. “OSHA staff have been communicating with the company's legal counsel and the department's next steps may include pursuing enforcement of the settlement agreement through district court.”

C6-Zero spokesman Mark Corallo did not reply to an email or phone message.

The Marengo plant, which opened in 2020 and had about 30 employees, was in a pilot phase when a spark ignited flammable vapor and caused an explosion that injured nine employees, at least two seriously.

Kelly Regenold, of Tama, suffered severe burns on one-third of his body in the blast, according to a lawsuit Regenold and his wife filed in Iowa County. Cody Blasberg was severely burned and was put temporarily on a ventilator because of his injuries, his family wrote on a GoFundMe page.

Iowa OSHA originally found 15 serious violations at the plant, each carrying a $8,701 penalty, for a total $130,515. The agency and C6-Zero reached a settlement May 26 that the company would pay $95,711 by June 19.

The Gazette requested state records providing more details about the violations, and received 389 pages earlier this month.

First responders reported in December that C6-Zero’s sprinkler system, hydrants and alarms did not work the morning of the explosion. Iowa OSHA violation records confirmed these findings and said C6-Zero also didn’t take precautions to prevent ignition of flammable vapors.

One of the violations noted that C6-Zero did not have a complete plan for what employees were to do in an emergency, like the Dec. 8 blast.

“Employer’s Emergency Action Plan was incomplete with several blank items such as, but not limited to, identifying the safety officer, critical operations or work processes that must be shut down during an evacuation, accounting for employees after an evacuation, and emergency evacuation routes — diagrams,” Iowa OSHA noted.

C6-Zero employees were using some personal protective equipment, but it wasn’t always adequate for the jobs they were given, Iowa OSHA found. For example, employees were given latex gloves while cleaning up oil product with diesel fuel.

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“The employer did not provide a workplace hazard assessment which necessitate the use of ppe. Employees were required to wear hard hats, safety goggles and safety vests,” records state. “The hazard assessment would have ensured employees cleaning chemicals from the floor had proper gloves for the chemicals used in the process.”

C6-Zero had employees enter tanks to paint and perform maintenance, but the company did not train employees how to work in confined spaces or have entry permits so supervisors could sign off when an employee went into a confined space, Iowa OSHA found.

C6-Zero Founder Howard Brand III has guarded the recipe of Kaniksu, a solvent he wanted to use to dissolve shingles into their component parts of sand, oil and fiberglass. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said in April that C6-Zero broke the law by failing to give first responders a list of hazardous chemicals kept on site. The firm also did not train employees on the chemicals, Iowa OSHA found.

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“The employer did not ensure that employees were trained on the hazard chemicals they are exposed to during their normal work duties,” records state. “Employees were exposed to hazardous chemicals while painting the trommels and entering the trommels to perform maintenance.”

The records Iowa OSHA provided to The Gazette show investigators did eight interviews as part of the C6-Zero investigation, but these reports all were redacted. Witnesses checked a box on forms saying “I would speak more freely if my interview were not given to the public. Please withhold my interview from the public whenever possible.”

Dozens of pages of records were blacked out with the note “Trade Secrets” in red.

The EPA is overseeing an environmental cleanup at the Marengo site, where water and soil were contaminated with petroleum products from C6-Zero and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) from foam used to fight the fire.

Comments: (319) 339-3157; erin.jordan@thegazette.com

Gazette Des Moines Bureau Chief Erin Murphy contributed to this report.