Kilgore Flares Summary Released
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One West Tennessee man is resting at home tonight after a long recovery from injuries he suffered last September at the Kilgore Flares explosion in Toone. “All I remember is an explosion… it was just a major explosion… it knocked me down… something blew off the building and just knocked me down and then all I could see is fire… and it went up the line and got three other girls….but all I remember is everything went black and fire was all around me,” says Jewel Jarrett, a Kilgore employee burned severely from the accident. Jarrett says he had no way of knowing the environment in which he was working was unsafe. Today, in documents received by ABC-7 News from the Tennessee Occupational Safety Health Administration (TOSHA), Kilgore Flares has been cited with 26 violations. Some of the most severe findings focus on Kilgore’s failure to implement written procedures for certain processes or in the handling of certain chemicals. Investigators say Kilgore neither kept record of which or when employees received training nor was it documented whether each worker understood what he or she was taught. They also discovered exit signs in the building where the explosion and fire happened were neither properly illuminated nor positioned correctly. “They showed me the do’s and don’ts, but as far as training…. I didn’t get no training,” says Jarrett. Jarrett says at the time he thought he was working in a safe environment. “It’s been rough on me… you know I lost my leg… I’m in a wheel chair… I can’t walk…. It’s just been torture,” says Jarrett. Jarrett says he’s still on payroll at Kilgore Flares, but has yet to hear from anyone at the company. “It’s changed my live dramatically… you can’t do the things you used to do… you can’t get up when you want to go…” says Jarrett. Jarrett says while the physical pain has been intense, the mental anguish of dealing with not being able to walk has been even greater. Jarrett’s cousin, Erica Jarrett, remains in a rehabilitation facility. Jarrett says while she’s making progress, her recovery has been just as challenging. “I would like to say Kilgore is a good place to work… but the environment you work in should be more properly attended,” says Kilgore. He adds, “I hate this happened to me, but I ain’t got nothing to say about nobody else… everyone needs a job… but they need to work in a safe environment,”
