 Sugar is one of the most important materials in human history. Such is its influence on mankind that it has been implicated in the blight of obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and tooth decay. Refined sugar being bad for your health is a bit of a given nowadays. But not always the way you think, especially if you work in a sugar refinery. Much like grain and flour, sugar is susceptible to dust explosions. And it is the driving force behind a disaster in 2008 in Port Wentworth, Georgia, which would result in 14 worker deaths. My name is John and today we're looking at the Imperial Sugar Explosion. It is December 1997 and the Imperial Sugar Company is acquiring a new production site at Port Wentworth from Savannah Foods and Industries Incorporated. There is nothing really of note here. It was doing what businesses do and that is acquiring to expand. The site has been home to food production and processing since the early 1900s. Savannah Industries Incorporated began construction of granulated sugar production facilities at Port Wentworth during the 1910s, completing it in 1917. Over the years, production capacity would be added to, culminating in its final arrangement with multiple screw and bucket conveyors, all for storing and transporting sugar granules in three large silos. Each silo was 140 feet in diameter and 105 feet tall, constructed from concrete and sat atop a foundation in the packing building floor. Below was a 130 foot long tunnel used for conveyor belts. Each silo has a capacity of 5 million pounds. The screws and bucket conveyor system was originally intended to be fully enclosed to prevent the escape of dust, which as we know from my De Bruyne's grain explosion video can be pretty deadly. The factory production facilities received raw sugar and refined it into granulated sugar. Once refined, it was transferred via screws and conveyor belt to the top of silo 3. From here it is fed to the other two silos via a belt, which discharged the sugar into an elevator pit. This pit fed a bucket conveyor, which took the sugar to a penthouse and from there multiple belt conveyors to the other silos. When needed, 18 inch holes are opened in the base of the silos and the sugar is then transported to the powdered sugar mills. The packing equipment or the bulk sugar building. The Imperial Sugar Facility has large open work areas, but little thought during its operation was given to dust buildup. As such no dust extraction system was in operation and dust accumulated on overhead conduits, piping, sealing beams, lights and equipment. The site has two packing areas, each four storeys tall and were named the Bosch and South buildings respectively. The equipment in the packing areas filled paper bags with sugar, like the type you may find in your cupboard. The machines had protective glass to prevent workers from getting caught in the moving parts, but it still allowed for inspection. And there was vacuum duct work provided to remove some of the dust from the machinery. On the fourth floor there was also a powdered sugar facility. Sugar powder in dangerous situations was a daily part of working life at Imperial. Spillages were also common requiring regular cleanups. As well as a constant generation of dust from packing, the supposedly sealed conveyor screws also allowed deadly dust to propagate around the facility. And all of this meant that disaster was inevitable. It is the evening of February the 7th, 2008 and Imperial Sugar is welcoming its CEO for a tour of the facility. There are four people in this tour group and nothing out of the ordinary has been seen so far, but at approximately 7.15pm this would change. A loud bang startled the group as they walked through the south packaging building, which would later be described as a heavy roll of packing material dropped from a forklift somewhere nearby. Just a few seconds later they were blown off their feet as debris blew through the building. Flames blew out the roof as the concrete floors of the south building buckled as explosions spread throughout the different areas of the facility. Intense fireballs ripped through the entire north and south packing and palletiser buildings. Sugar dust shaken loose from overhead surfaces from the explosions ignited intensifying the fires. Workers were pummeled with equipment and debris as the heat of the fireball burned away any flesh. Escape proved to be difficult as smoke obscured the passages of escape. Several exits were also blocked by fallen brickwork further hindering any chance of safely getting out. Heat travelled up the enclosed conveyor screws igniting more powdered sugar eventually spreading the series of explosions back to the south packing building. In total the fireball and explosions would continue for 15 minutes. Before the last explosions emergency workers were on the scene but they were confronted with the thick flames and a partially demolished facility. As soon as they could the first responders started working towards recovery of victims. Some of the staff had already started rescue and recovery work helping out some of the injured taking the worst burnt to a makeshift triage at the facility gatehouse. Smoldering would continue for over a week after the initial explosions. Nine local and state organisations helped with the rescue efforts but sadly the disaster would result in fatalities. Eight workers died at the facility on the day during the explosions and another four would die later in hospital from severe burns. 36 would require medical attention with several receiving life-changing injuries. With millions of dollars of damage and 15 dead one question loomed. Why did impure sugar experience such a catastrophic explosion? Dust explosions have been a known risk to sugar production going way back to before the turn of the century. Impure sugar was even aware of this since 1925. In a 1961 internal memo the need for proper cleanliness and dust suppression was highlighted. However proper collection and disposal of dust requires a fair amount of man hours and thus costs. Needless to say you can probably see the root cause. It was found that equipment was in vital need of overhaul and repair. The likely ignition source was a faulty bearing in an overhead conveyor. A cause almost identical to the debris grain explosion. Staff from Imperial Sugar were interviewed by the CSB and they gave a pretty damning description of the facility. Sugar leaked down from worn seals, broken or missing sections of the screw conveyor and failed pressurized air seals resulting in more sugar and dust being spilled all over the packing buildings. Due to the large size of the buildings dust floated up to above the light fittings, piping and support beams. A company cleaning policy was in force for planned daily, weekly and monthly cleaning of the packing areas but these weren't enacted by management. The CSB also found that staff weren't properly trained in dust handling. You see the packaging machines required constant cleaning of dust to work properly. Sometimes water and steam were used to clear any issues but often compressed air was employed which only made the dust situation worse. Rather worryingly staff had said in interviews that leading up to the explosion there had been several small fires which were successfully extinguished. A quality assurance survey undertaken in late 2007 found multiple issues with housekeeping and general dust management. It just seemed that even with decades of knowledge of the risks of dust explosions from both the sugar and grain industries that Imperial Sugar were not interested in the safety of its staff. Sadly this story is just another in a long list of instances where companies have prioritised profit over safety. But even though the site was pretty destroyed Imperial was committed to rebuilding. It was a vital part of the local economy and in the wake of the disaster the area struggled as local businesses lost trade. In the demolition of the site 1.3 million kilos of hardened sugar had to be smashed up and removed. The rebuilding would cost $220 million and the company would report full production in November 2009. OSHA cited the company for 124 violations but the US Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia said there wasn't enough evidence to prove criminal intent. What a surprise. 44 lawsuits were brought against the company and many were settled out of court. Now where would you rate this disaster on my legacy scale? 1. Having a significant impact on history and 10. Being very influential in history. I'm going to say today that this one is around a 4. This is a plain difficult production. All videos on the channel are creative commons attribution share alike licensed. Plain difficult videos are produced by me John in the currently wet and miserable southeastern corner of London UK. Help the channel grow by liking commenting and subscribing. Check out my twitter for all sorts of photos and odds and sods as well as hints on future videos. I've got patreon and youtube membership as well so check them out to be fancied supporting the channel financially. And all that's left to say is thank you for watching.