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CAMBRIA, WI – A federal grand jury has indicted the operator and six management officials of a Cambria corn mill – where a May 31, 2017, explosion killed five workers and injured 15 others – on nine criminal counts, including two counts related to willful violations of federal workplace safety standards for grain handling.
Handed down by a grand jury in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin in Madison on May 11, 2022, the indictment of Didion Milling Inc. and its current and former managers includes counts of document falsification in contemplation of a U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration investigation and obstructing the federal OSHA investigation. The indictment also charges the company and the six officials falsified entries in a cleaning logbook, which involved matters under the jurisdiction of OSHA.
The indictment alleges that Didion Milling willfully violated two federal safety standards in the Occupational Safety and Health Act -- by failing to develop and implement a written program to effectively prevent and remove combustible grain dust accumulations, and by not installing venting or suppression on a dust filter collector to prevent an explosion – thereby, causing the deaths of five employees due to the combustible dust explosion on May 31, 2017.
The grand jury indictment also includes the following allegations:
Former Didion Milling shift superintendents Michael Bright and Nicholas Booker pleaded guilty previously to making false entries in Didion Milling’s cleaning logbook and false entries in the baghouse log, which involved matters within the jurisdiction of OSHA and EPA, respectively.
Based in Sun Prairie, Didion Milling Inc. has been in operation since 1972. The company operates a corn milling and biofuels facility in Cambria and production facilities in Markesan and Johnson Creek.
An indictment is merely an allegation and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
U.S. vs. Didion Milling Inc, et. al
200 Constitution Ave NW Washington, DC 20210 1-866-4-USA-DOL 1-866-487-2365 www.dol.gov