Second lawsuit filed in U.S. Steel Clairton explosion

The wife of Steven Menefee claims wrongful death in her suit against Nippon Steel.

Menefee

The wife of a Westmoreland County man killed in the Aug. 11 Clairton Coke Works explosion is suing for wrongful death.

Danielle Menefee filed the complaint Friday in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court against Nippon Steel North America Inc., which took over U.S. Steel in June; MPW Industrial Services Inc., of Hebron, Ohio, which had been hired to clean a gas isolation valve that day; and Valves Inc., which had previously refurbished the valve in question.

Menefee, whose complaint also includes claims for negligence, is suing on behalf of her husband, Steven C. Menefee, who was killed that day.

Timothy Quinn, 39, of South Huntingdon also died in the explosion. Quinn’s sister filed a similar lawsuit last week.

Both complaints allege that the explosion at the 13-14 Coke Battery transfer area was caused by the rupture of an 18-inch cast-iron valve, which then released coke oven gas into the area that ignited.

The transfer area between the batteries housed control rooms, a break room and personnel shacks.

It was beneath there, in a confined space called the “basement,” that the high-pressure coke oven gas supply piping ran, feeding processed gas to both batteries.

The operational facilities were just 10 to 20 feet above the “basement” and were not constructed to be blast-resistant, a violation of industry guidelines, the lawsuit said.

Two separate independent investigations into the explosion by the U.S. Chemi- cal Safety and Hazard Investigation Board and Engineering Design and Testing Corp., which was retained by U.S. Steel, reached similar conclusions.

In addition, the lawsuits claim that Nippon failed to ensure safety standards were being followed after the takeover of U.S. Steel; that MPW used improper methods to clean the leaking valve; and that Valves Inc. should have replaced the cast-iron valve with more flexible steel.

The Menefee lawsuit, like the one filed by Quinn, also noted that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, earlier this month, fined U.S. Steel $118,000 for 10 violations stemming from the explosion.

MPW received nine violations totaling $61,000 in fines. At the time of the explosion, Menefee, 52, of East Huntingdon, was working as a “heater” at the coke works, making him a frontline operator responsible for the heating system that keeps the ovens running.

Because of the location where he performed his work, Menefee “was consumed by the force of this explosion at close range,” the lawsuit said, and sustained fatal smoke inhalation and burn injuries.

The Menefees have two daughters, aged 12 and 9, the lawsuit said.