Source:  Ann Bagel Storck, MEATINGPLACE.COM, 12/2/09

The North Carolina Labor Department on Tuesday cited ConAgra Foods for 26 serious health and safety violations in the June explosion at ConAgra's Garner, N.C., Slim Jim plant that killed four and injured dozens.

ConAgra faces $134,773 in fines and must correct problems investigators found.

Energy Systems Analysts of Hickory, N.C., which was hired to install a commercial water heater at the Garner facility, was cited for 28 violations and fined $58,100.

In terms of the blast's cause, the Labor Department concluded that an outside contractor, working in the presence of ConAgra management, was working in a pump room to light a natural gas-fired water heater and improperly allowed gas to escape into the room, which contained electric motors and circuit panels that could have ignited the blast.

ConAgra and Energy Systems Analysts have 15 business days to contest the citations or pay the fines. ConAgra declined to comment on the Labor Department's findings.

Production is still limited at the Slim Jim facility, where hundreds were laid off last month. 

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