One fatality after hazardous waste facility explosion

An explosion at a U.S. Ecology waste plant on Nov. 17 in Grand View, Idaho left one employee dead and another three with non-life-threatening injuries.

U.S. Ecology, based in Boise, Idaho, houses a facility in Grand View that processes and converts hazardous inorganic wastes into non-hazardous, delisted residues.

The explosion happened at 9:23 a.m. during a routine process inside one of the buildings at the facility, U.S. Ecology says in a press release.

Fifteen U.S. Ecology employees were working during the time of the explosion. Three sustained injuries, while Monte “Alex” Green, a 48-year-old equipment operator who was moving materials at the time of the explosion, passed away from his injuries.

The incident is under investigation both internally and externally by the U.S. Ecology executive team, the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Boise Team and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).

“Today is an exceptionally hard day for our team. As we mourn the loss of one of our own, we are also moving forward to try and figure out exactly what happened. US Ecology is committed to finding the cause and working closely with the agencies and teams on site to ensure a thorough investigation,” says U.S. Ecology Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jeff Feeler. “This is a tragedy that affects not only our team, but the entire community. There hasn’t been a moment that’s gone by that we haven’t thought about Alex, his family, and the crews who were working yesterday. Together we will rally and continue to be a strong team and community.”