Imperial Sugar to contest OSHA fines of 8.77 million

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/stories/2008/07/21/daily56.html

Friday, July 25, 2008 - 3:18 PM CDT

Imperial Sugar Co. plans to contest fines totaling $8.7 million proposed by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration for alleged safety violations at plants in Georgia and Louisiana.

Thirteen people died in a Feb. 7 explosion at the plant in Port Wentworth, Ga., believed to have been caused by a spark igniting sugar dust.

The OSHA on Friday said it proposed to fine Sugar Land-based Imperial Sugar (NASDAQ: IPSU) $5 million for safety violations at the Georgia plant and $3.7 million for the Gramercy, La., plant

In a statement following news of the fines, John Sheptor, chief executive officer of Imperial Sugar, said the company had reviewed the allegations in OSHA’s citations.

“Based on this review, we have filed with OSHA a ‘notice of contest’ of the citations, in which we challenge the allegations of the citations, the characterization of the violations and the penalties proposed,” he said.

“In short, we believe that the facts do not merit the allegations made.”