The recent report released by the Tennessee Occupational Safety and Health Administration (TOSHA) regarding the deaths of six Impact Plastics workers during the catastrophic flooding of Hurricane Helene last year is nothing short of a whitewash of profit-driven employer negligence. 

In a craven attempt to shield the company from accountability, TOSHA concluded that the deaths were “not work related,” absurdly claiming that Impact Plastics management “exercised reasonable diligence to dismiss employees and direct them to leave the site.” This conclusion flies in the face of overwhelming evidence and the anguished testimony of surviving workers and the families of the deceased, revealing the state agency’s complicity in protecting capitalist interests over the lives of the working class.

The tragedy that unfolded on September 27, 2024, at the Riverview Industrial Park in Erwin, Tennessee, was a direct consequence of Impact Plastics’ callous prioritization of production over the safety of its employees. As Hurricane Helene unleashed torrential rainfall and the Nolichucky River swelled to dangerous levels, Impact Plastics continued its operations, trapping its workers in a windowless production space with no access to critical information.

The company’s draconian policy of forbidding employees from having their cell phones on the factory floor rendered them completely unaware of the rapidly deteriorating conditions outside. While the National Weather Service issued urgent flash flood emergency alerts as early as 9:20 a.m., these warnings remained unknown to the workers inside. As the only road in and out of the industrial park became impassable, Impact Plastics employees were kept in the dark, their fate sealed by a management that valued output over human life.

Testimony from workers and legal filings paint a damning picture of a company that ignored the escalating danger. Despite the rising waters, managers allegedly refused to allow employees to leave, with some workers fearing termination if they disobeyed. Even as the parking lot flooded, a production controller sent an email pushing a morning meeting to the afternoon, indicating a chilling intention to continue business as usual. 

This stands in stark contrast to neighboring businesses in the same industrial park, such as Foam Products Corporation, which proactively closed the day before due to serious weather concerns. Old Hickory Buildings began sending employees home as early as 7:42 a.m., with a manager even using a tractor to create an alternate escape route.

When the power finally went out at 10:39 a.m. and the parking lot was already underwater, supervisors finally dismissed workers. However, by this time, it was tragically too late for many to escape the isolated industrial park. Eleven desperate workers sought refuge on the bed of a semi-trailer parked outside the factory. 

This makeshift sanctuary proved fatal when floodwaters overwhelmed the truck, and floating debris caused it to overturn, sweeping all 11 into the raging torrent of the Nolichucky River. Six workers perished in this horrific ordeal: Rosa Maria Andrade Reynoso, Monica Hernandez, Bertha Mendoza, Johnny Peterson, Lidia Verdugo and Sibrina Barnett.

TOSHA’s assertion that employees had time to evacuate relies on the claim that some workers escaped via “makeshift routes,” according to the agency’s report. However, these were not established evacuation plans provided by Impact Plastics. Instead, employees of neighboring businesses took it upon themselves to dismantle a fence and create a path over an embankment to a nearby highway and another employee used a tractor to create a path to railroad tracks. 

To suggest that these desperate, last-minute actions by others absolve Impact Plastics of its responsibility is a cruel distortion of reality. As attorney Luke Widener, representing the family of Sibrina Barnett and other victims, rightly pointed out as reported by the Associated Press, many safety records, including an emergency evacuation plan, never existed.

Furthermore, the TOSHA investigation itself was riddled with inadequacies. The agency’s report admits that its investigation was “hampered by ‘phone service disruptions, language barriers, and other challenges.’” It also noted that the flooding destroyed the company’s workplace safety records. 

Crucially, TOSHA’s report “ignores the testimony of multiple witnesses, critical text messages, emergency alert logs, and photographic evidence that tell the real story about Impact Plastics’ fatal failures,” according to attorney Alex Little, representing the family of Johnny Peterson. The fact that family members who have filed lawsuits did not cooperate with TOSHA further underscores the lack of trust in the agency’s objectivity.

The callous indifference of Impact Plastics management to the fate of its workers is exposed by their response to the tragedy. The company denied any wrongdoing and had the audacity to send $100 fast food gift cards to the grieving families as a holiday greeting, an act described as a “slap in the face.” In court filings, Impact Plastics even claimed that Johnny Peterson, who stayed behind to help others, was comparatively at fault for his own death for “failing to exercise reasonable care for his own safety.”

The TOSHA report serves as a stark reminder that under the capitalist system, state regulatory agencies are more concerned with protecting the interests of businesses than with ensuring the safety and well-being of workers. The findings in this case are a betrayal of the six lives lost and show contempt for their families and the entire working class.

Workers must recognize that their safety will never be guaranteed by profit-driven employers, the union bureaucracies which collaborate with them or the state agencies that are meant to provide oversight. The tragedy at Impact Plastics underscores the urgent need for workers to take matters into their own hands. 

The formation of independent rank-and-file safety committees, democratically controlled by workers themselves, is essential to monitor workplace conditions, enforce safety protocols and fight against the relentless drive for profit that endangers lives. Only through collective action and the independent organization of the working class can we prevent such avoidable tragedies in the future.