Mother of girl killed in Horizon Biofuels plant explosion sues company for negligence

The mother of a 12-year-old girl killed in an explosion at a wood refining facility in Fremont last year has filed a lawsuit against the plant’s owner, Horizon Biofuels, alleging the company’s negligence led to her daughter’s death.

Lauren Baker filed the lawsuit in Dodge County on Wednesday. Her daughter, Hayven Danielson, was killed in the July 29 explosion along with her father and younger half-sister. The two girls were waiting in the facility’s break room as their father worked when the building exploded.

According to the lawsuit, video of the explosion showed a “large puff of dust or smoke” coming out of windows at the top of the tower. Within seconds, the video showed flames coming out of the windows before a large explosion at the top of the tower rocked the facility and caused multiple buildings to catch fire and collapse.

Though the company was initially formed to produce biodiesel, it switched to manufacturing animal bedding and wood pellets around 2009. That process involved grinding scrap wood into mulch and then into a finer wood meal. Some of the material was used as animal bedding, and some was put through a pellet mill. Because of the large amount of wood dust produced in the process, the facility utilized multiple dust collection systems meant to prevent dust buildup.

Baker alleges in the lawsuit that Horizon Biofuels acted negligently in operating and maintaining its facility, leading to a preventable combustible dust explosion. She also said her daughter should never have been allowed in the building in the first place, and the company should have enacted a policy to prevent minors from being on the premises. She is seeking compensation for funeral and related expenses, and for the pain and suffering her daughter experienced prior to her death, as well as her own suffering from losing her daughter.

The explosion is still being investigated by multiple federal agencies. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration, or OSHA, announced earlier this month that it had fined Horizon Biofuels more than $147,000 after an inspection after the explosion revealed multiple serious violations of standards meant to prevent the buildup of combustible dust.

OSHA found, in part, that multiple pieces of equipment lacked controls to prevent known risks of explosion or fire, like belt friction and hot equipment surfaces. It also found that dust had accumulated to more than 1/8th of an inch across the facility, including on the main work floor and in the elevated bin areas. The wood grinding and pelletizing machines had also not been maintained to prevent dust buildup, according to OSHA.

On Feb. 12, Horizon Biofuels contested all seven violations issued by OSHA. The case will now be reviewed by the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

The U.S. Chemical Safety Board is also investigating the explosion. In a statement issued last September, the board said preliminary evidence suggested that the explosion was “completely avoidable.” The agency has not yet released its final report.

Combustible dust explosions are a known risk. In order for a dust explosion to occur, it must meet all five elements of the “dust explosion pentagon,” according to a comprehensive 2006 report from the U.S. Chemical Safety Board.

“Like all fires, a dust fire occurs when fuel (the combustible dust) is exposed to heat (an ignition source) in the presence of oxygen (air),” the report said. “A dust explosion requires the simultaneous presence of two additional elements– dust suspension and confinement. Suspended dust burns more rapidly, and confinement allows for pressure buildup.”