Omega Protein settles suit with wife of Jackson County worker killed in explosion

Jan. 19--JACKSON COUNTY -- The wife of an east Jackson County man killed in a 2014 explosion at Omega Protein, Inc. has settled a wrongful death lawsuit against the fish-processing plant in Moss Point, court records show.

The undisclosed settlement is between Katlyn Taylor, the wife of Jerry Lee Taylor II, 25, of the Big Point community, and Omega. Jerry Taylor was welding on top of a metal storage tank when it exploded on July 28, 2014, at the plant on Elder Ferry Road in Moss Point.

When the tank exploded, Taylor was thrown 100 feet and landed on top of another tank. Taylor died, and three others suffered injuries, one seriously.

According to the lawsuit, Taylor did not receive adequate warnings about flammable hydrogen and sulfide gases inside the storage tank he was working on when it blew up.

His wife was seeking punitive and compensatory damages for wrongful death, pain and suffering, negligence and breech of contract. She was asking for a monetary award to cover burial and internment expenses and demanded a jury trial. She estimated her husband's lost future earning capacity at $1.4 million.

The settlement was reached Thursday.

Taylor was a temporary worker hired to cut and weld storage tanks at the plant. Omega had a contract with Accu-Fab & Construction, a metal fabricator, to set up a wastewater storage tank requiring modifications to existing pipes. The staffing agency, Global Employment Services provided Accu-Fab with its employees, including Taylor.

After the settlement was reached, Global Employment Services filed a motion asking to be reimbursed for the $153,442 paid to Taylor's wife as part of her husband's worker's compensation insurance coverage. U.S. Magistrate Judge John Gargiulo denied the request.

In the suit, Katlyn Taylor said Omega failed to perform safety inspections or train workers about the hazards of potentially flammable and toxic wastewater, a byproduct of the manufacturing process, in the storage tanks Taylor and others were working on the day of the explosion. The wastewater generates hydrogen sulfide and methane gases, which are highly explosive and toxic. An Omega engineer reportedly told an Accu-Fab foreman the wastewater was not flammable and it would cost Omega thousands of dollars to drain the tank.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration investigated and fined Omega and three others companies more than $187,000.

OSHA noted in its findings that two temporary workers, including Taylor, had no training to know the storage tank contained the highly flammable and toxic wastewater.

OSHA issued 13 citations to Omega Protein, a producer of omega-3 fish and specialty fish products, for willful, repeated and serious safety violations. One of the citations said Omega put Taylor and other Accub-Fab employees in danger when it failed to inform Accu-Fab of the potentially-explosive and toxic hazards.

OSHA cited Accu-Fab for one willful, four serious and two other non-serious violations. The willful violation against Accu-Fab and Global Employment Services resulted from the failure of both companies to instruct employees on chemical hazards in the work place and for failing to teach employees how to avoid unsafe working conditions.

OSHA cited Accu-Fab with an additional violation for failing to ensure employees working on top of tall storage tanks wore fall protection gear. In addition, Accu-Fab, OSHA said, did not record in its records the employee's death and two other injuries.

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