The Nippon Dynawave Mill has been cited following a Washington State Department of Labor and Industries investigation into a complaint earlier this year unrelated to the May 26th fatal white liquor tank failure.

L&I says the citation is due to the company not documenting its safety plans or keeping required records relating to an ammonia tank used to treat wastewater at the mill.

On March 4th, the agency opened an inspection after a worker at the plant reported a broken valve handle on an aqua ammonia clarifier tank used to treat wastewater. The valve handle had been detached, making it unable to close.

When L&I inspectors responded to the complaint, repairs on the handle had already begun and the issue posed no safety or health risks. That was in part because workers are not regularly stationed at the wastewater treatment site. However, managers at the site could not provide documentation of required inspections and did not have a formal inspection and maintenance program for the tank and associated equipment.

The citation was for just under $2,900. Nippon Dynawave has 15 days to appeal from the date the citation was issued.

There’s also an unrelated L&I investigation that the agency opened on May 6th after a drain failed and caused a sinkhole at the Nippon Dynawave Longview mill. A worker who was responding to the incident stepped into the hole, which was about 4 feet deep and full of hot pulp. That investigation is also still ongoing.