'Human error' cited in Danvers blast

Firm singled out in agency report

Houses have been repaired and new homes have been built in Danvers near the site of the explosion, but some damage remains. (David Kamerman/Globe Staff)

DANVERS - A federal safety agency yesterday singled out one company as the cause of the 2006 chemical explosion here that literally blew apart a neighborhood but did not kill anyone.

Speaking with reporters yesterday, officials from the US Chemical Safety Board said they have concluded that the explosion could have been prevented if CAI Inc. had installed automatic venting and alarm systems at its former Water Street site.

"Without safeguards, it is likely that a small but foreseeable human error led to disaster," said William E. Wright, a safety board member. "We found an underlying cause was CAI's failure . . . to ensure that flammable liquids were properly handled during the manufacturing process."

The safety board stated that the Danvers Fire Department's pre-explosion inspection of the plant was inadequate and that both the state's fire safety rules and the national fire safety code need to be strengthened to protect the public.

The board's report was presented publicly last night at a three-hour community meeting at the Sheraton Ferncroft Hotel that drew more than 100 residents and local officials. Some saw the animated film depicting the blast for the first time.

The safety board voted 3 to 1 to accept the 105-page report during the meeting. The report was prepared by federal investigators over the past 18 months.

Board member Gary L. Visscher was the lone dissenter, saying the federal panel should not dictate state and local regulations. "State and local governments need to figure that out," he said in an interview after the vote.

One local resident expressed anger at CAI.

"Since the day of the explosion, it's been hell," Angelo Reale, 63, said, addressing the safety board during a public comment period. "The people who own these companies can't even get on the TV and say 'I'm sorry?' "

Andrea Farrell, 63, whose house was destroyed in the blast, said the 11-minute video shown last night was helpful.

"The sequence of events now makes much more sense," she said. "There was such confusion that night. It's something that I will remember until the day I die."

Dave Marcou, 35, whose house abutted the factory site and who is featured in the video, watched it for the first time online yesterday afternoon. He said he gasped when he first saw the video.

"It was shocking, but I do think the level of detail is very good," he said.

Marcou, who had to tear down his house and rebuild, said the recommendations in the report made sense. "They all seem solid, but I just hope that there is also a [way] to enforce them," he said.

State Fire Marshal Stephen D. Coan and the Fire Chiefs' Association of Massachusetts have pledged to incorporate the safety board's suggestions into regulations and state law.

"Many of our landmark safety pieces of legislation and regulation, unfortunately, need a catastrophic event" to get political attention, said Concord Fire Chief Kenneth R. Willette, president of the association, who added that fire officials were generally aware of lax state rules governing the storage and use of chemicals in manufacturing. "Given the size of the Danvers incident, it shocked us into a statewide response."

The Danvers explosion at 2:46 a.m. on Nov. 22 blew apart 16 houses and damaged dozens more homes, cars, boats, and the New England Home for the Deaf, located 800 feet away across the Danvers River, officials said. Ten people were treated at hospitals for minor injuries.

Two companies worked in the facility - ink maker CAI and specialty paint maker Arnel Inc. Federal investigators said that only CAI was mixing chemicals on Nov. 21 and that is one reason they blame only the Georgetown-based company for the disaster.

A CAI employee inadvertently left a steam system heating a mixing vat of 2,000 gallons of ink, the report said. Another worker who left at 6 p.m. on Nov. 21 shut off the ventilating system, federal investigators said.

With the ventilation shut off, explosive vapors collected inside the building, found an ignition source, and exploded on the morning of Nov. 22, the board concluded.

W. Paul Needham, attorney for CAI, said a company investigation used computer modeling to reach a completely different conclusion.

"The studies show it could not have happened the way the CSB [chemical board] says," Needham said. He said the CAI employee is adamant he turned off the heating system before he left.

Needham refused to provide specifics, citing the ongoing litigation between CAI and affected property owners and insurance carriers.

Yesterday, some houses remained boarded up, but new and remodeled houses have sprung up from the wreckage from 18 months ago. "It was a hectic time," said Jacqueline Boudreau, who is back in the Bates Street home where she has lived for the past 50 years. It had been heavily damaged by the explosion.

Boudreau said her family escaped with just scratches and decided to rebuild their battered home.

"We were very lucky," she said.

Boudreau said that CAI has been a good neighbor over the decades and that she is surprised the safety board found the company badly mishandled its operations.

Danvers town officials said they have beefed up inspections of the 35 businesses that store or use chemicals in their buildings, and are optimistic the enhanced safety practices will prevent a repeat disaster.

"You can never say totally and with absolute certainty, but I know we have taken measures to substantially reduce the potential," said Wayne Marquis, town manager.

The CSB said the Danvers Fire Department, when it inspected the facility in 2002, should have discovered the lack of a fire wall, pushed the companies to install a better ventilation system, and noticed that the companies were storing large amounts of flammable chemicals.

Fire Chief James Tutko echoed the safety board's conclusion that it was the failure of CAI to operate safely that caused the explosion. He also said firefighters lack the expertise to notice when a complex chemical manufacturing process runs afoul of safety rules.

"We are firefighters; we are not engineers," Tutko said in an interview. "It was one of those companies that was silent, that we did not know what was going on in there." He added, "as we move forward, the more vigilant we will be with these types of companies. We will go out there and do our job better."

Katherine McCabe of the Globe Staff contributed to this report.