Didion Milling Inc Indicted by Grand Jury
The counts relate to an incident in 2017 that killed five workers and injured 15 others.
- By Alex Saurman
- May 20, 2022
One company and some employees were indicted by a grand jury in Wisconsin.
According to a press release, Didion Milling Inc and a few employees were indicted on nine criminal counts relating to an explosion that killed five workers and injured 15 more in 2017. (According to a press release from 2017, OSHA cited Didion Milling for the explosion for 14 willful and five serious citations.)
The indictment from the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin in Madison includes charges relating to document falsification, hindering an OSHA investigation and falsifying logbooks. Two counts relate to willful violations for grain handling.
Allegations in the indictment involve violating standards in the OSH 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 indictment also alleges that some employees "conspired to commit fraud" and federal offenses and "obstructed justice."
According to another press release, the indictment charges Didion Milling, a vice president and five employees. Two of the employees pled guilty to charges relating to false entries in logbooks.
The press release states, “An indictment is merely an allegation and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.”