The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration doesn't plan to issue any citations after a grain bin explosion this past May at the BioUrja ethanol plant in Peoria.
That's according to documents obtained by WCBU through a Freedom of Information Act request. Two employees were injured in the May 11 explosion.
A report said those two employees were patching a hole on the bucket elevator when they noticed a hole in the largest of the grain bins.
"Both indicated the bin collapsed and then a fireball occurred. Looked like the sun and then the power went out," wrote the OSHA inspector.
The employees climbed down. One of the employees went to the hospital for smoke inhalation, while the other suffered a minor burn to his right hand.
Four other silos were also impacted by the explosion. Three weren't in use, but one was used to collect dust. The OSHA inspector wrote that while the collector was "intrinsically safe," the bin failed and made contact with the ignition source.
OSHA inspectors say no standards were violated that night, and employees took the correct precautions by shutting other equipment down and trying to draw grain out of the bin.
"He understood and stated the way the employees handled the situation that night was very proactive and made the situation less of a catastrophic event," wrote the inspector of the union president's response to the inspection closing.
BioUrja reimbursed the Peoria Fire Department $101,000 for expenses incurred in the response.
