Another tank spilled months ago at site of Longview disaster, records show
The Longview paper mill where 11 workers died last month in a chemical tank failure was the site of another spill that Nippon Dynawave Packaging described as a near miss" earlier this spring, according to newly released public records.
That earlier spill, in March, left a worker submerged in a scalding liquid known as pulp stock for an estimated 40 seconds.
The revelation arrives as Nippon Dynawave comes under intense scrutiny for May's tank failure in a different part of the plant: the largest industrial accident in modern state history. The cause of the deadly spill hasn't been confirmed, so it's not clear if the spills share the same root issues. Both incidents remain under investigation.
But the March spill adds to concerns raised by workers about aging equipment and maintenance practices at the decades-old facility - concerns that intensified after a 2023 fire at the mill burned for days. The earlier spill also raises questions about whether warning signs of broader safety problems went unaddressed.
On March 10, workers were dealing with a valve on a tank that wasn't fully closed, according to a tranche of hundreds of pages of documents released by the state Department of Labor and Industries.
That tank then dumped hot pulp stock, a fibrous slurry produced during papermaking, onto the ground in a refining area.
"The stock was much hotter than I anticipated," the worker, Andy Cloke, said in a witness statement. "I could see stock coming down and knew there were two valves involved."
The worker struggled to turn one of the tank's valves and jumped backward to reposition themself.
"When I jumped backward, I fell into the hole and became submerged in hot stock up to my chest," Cloke said in his witness account. "Employees in the control room observed the situation and immediately began hosing cool water onto me while I worked to get out."
The worker couldn't get out of the hole "while stock continued to discharge and the area remained extremely hot."
While the worker was submerged, a second employee instructed a third worker to call the fire department. But "once I was able to free myself and get out of the hole, he advised that the fire department was no longer needed," according to the witness statement.
The March incident, first reported by KING 5, prompted a complaint to L&I by one of the Nippon Dynawave employees.
Spokespeople for the Department of Labor and Industries and Nippon Dynawave did not immediately respond to requests for comment. A spokesperson for the Association of Western Pulp and Paper Workers, the union representing mill employees, declined to comment.
The report notes the employee who fell into the hole was wearing safety gear and wasn't seriously injured, an occurrence labeled as a "near miss."
Still, industrial facilities should have a way to isolate plugged valves to keep hazardous materials from spilling onto workers, said Johnnie Banks, a former investigator for the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board.
Think about a garden hose, said Banks, who investigated chemical incidents for the federal board for 15 years. You can stop the liquid from flowing on either end before plugging a leak.
Protective gear is "nice to have, but that person should be able to work in street clothes if the area had been properly isolated," said Banks, who is now retired. The chemical safety board quickly launched an investigation after the tank burst last month, spilling hundreds of thousands of gallons of a caustic chemical known as "white liquor" into the surrounding area.
While the March "near miss" doesn't appear to be directly related to the tank that ruptured in May, regulators investigating the cause are likely considering any recent incidents, Banks added.
"You can look at these events as precursors, tapping you on the shoulder and saying, 'Hey, something is going on here,'" Banks said. This isn't to say this particular valve failure was a red flag, but some things "can't be ignored during investigations, he added.
Past chemical safety board investigations have examined workplace cultures and how companies handled employee injuries and maintenance before catastrophic events.
In 2023, the Nippon Dynawave facility experienced a fire that lasted several days, raising concerns that the company had reduced back maintenance at the decades-old mill.
The chemical safety board and L&I are both investigating the May 26 tank failure that spilled more than half a million gallons of white liquor, a caustic chemical; killed 11 workers; and sent nearly two dozen more to hospitals.
On Thursday, the Cowlitz County coroner announced that all 10 of the victims within its jurisdiction died of chemical burns.
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