Cause of West Reading, Pennsylvania, candy factory explosion revealed by NTSB officials
The National Transportation Board revealed what caused the 2023 West Reading, Pennsylvania, candy factory explosion that killed seven people, injured 10 others, and displaced three families.
In a 110-page report released Tuesday, the NTSB said the explosion and fire at Building 2 of the R.M. Palmer Company, a candy manufacturer in West Reading, Pennsylvania, was fueled by natural gas.
The explosion happened on March 24, 2023, around 4:55 p.m. According to the NTSB, natural gas, transported through a UGI Corporation-owned pipeline, leaked into a R.M. Palmer Company building basement, which then ignited, leading to the explosion and fire.
The explosion killed seven R.M. Palmer Company employees, injured 10 people and destroyed the building. Another R.M. Palmer building, known as Building 1 and a nearby apartment complex were both severely damaged as well. The NTSB said three families were displaced from the apartment building.
It's unclear what caused the gas to ignite, according to the NTSB. The report claims the explosion caused an estimated $42 million in property damage.
The NTSB identified the following safety issues in their report:
- Degradation of a retired service tee
- Insufficient consideration of threats to pipeline integrity
- The risk associated with unmarked private pipeline assets crossing public rights-of-way (for example, a public street)
- Delayed evacuation of Building 2 despite detection of natural gas
- Natural gas safety messaging that may not reach certain members of the public
- Insufficient guidance on gas leak emergency procedures
- Absence of natural gas detection alarms in commercial buildings
- Insufficient accessibility of gas distribution line valves
The following discoveries, among others, were made through the NTSB's investigation.
The NTSB discovered that in 2021, a UGI Corporation crew retired the Aldyl A polyethylene service tee, which then joined UGI's gas main to the service line for R.M. Palmer Building 2. The retired tee, which was initially installed in 1982, was capped off, and crews installed a new tee.
However, the retired Aldyl A polyethylene service tee stayed connected to the natural gas distribution system. The NTSB found that natural gas had moved from the retired service tee through the ground and into the R.M. Palmer Building 2 basement, the chocolate pipe conduits, and Building 1, and ultimately fueled the explosion in Building 2's basement.
According to the report, the retired service tee leaked because of degradation caused by high temperatures. Steam escaping through a crack in a nearby corroded steam pipe caused the ground temperatures near the tee to rise.
"We found that, without sufficient threat information available for analysis in its distribution integrity management program (DIMP), UGI could not effectively evaluate and address the risk to pipeline integrity of plastic piping in elevated temperature environments and that by not addressing the threat posed by the steam pipe, UGI's DIMP was not effective in preventing the accident," the report read in part.
Further discoveries included that operators may not have known where plastic natural gas assets were and UGI lacked procedures and training for crews to report elevated temperature sources near their assets. Additionally, UGI didn't effectively inspect its valves through its valve maintenance program, which caused a delay in shutting off gas to the affected area.
And while many employees said they smelled the gas in the buildings before the explosion, only a few evacuated. R.M. Palmer Company had added natural gas emergency procedures and training before the incident. However, the NTSB found that the employees may not have understood the hazard or had sufficient emergency response training, which could be why they didn't evacuate the buildings before the explosion.
R.M. Palmer Company said they are reviewing the NTSB report.
"Not a day goes by that we do not remember and reflect on the heartbreaking loss of several colleagues and friends on that tragic day. We continue to mourn this loss, and our thoughts and prayers are with the families affected by this tragedy," the company said in a statement. "R.M. Palmer takes the health, safety and wellness of our employees very seriously and will continue to work tirelessly to ensure the health and safety of our employees and will proactively work with regulators to prevent any similar tragedy in the future."
The NTSB released a list of resources and facts about natural gas alarms, encouraging public awareness to prevent future injuries and deaths.
