Tennessee plastics factory staff killed in Hurricane Helene reportedly told not to evacuate

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

Several employees at a plastics factory in eastern Tennessee were killed during Hurricane Helene or are missing, amid warnings that the storm’s current death toll of more than 130 is likely to rise substantially as subsiding floodwaters allow rescuers to search through the wreckage.

Impact Plastics confirmed there had been fatalities at its plant in Erwin but did not say how many people had been killed. The company said there were missing and deceased employees as well as a contractor.

Officials have said at least 130 people across five states in the south-eastern US have been killed as a result of Helene, which thrashed ashore in Florida’s Big Bend region late Thursday.


Jacob Ingram, a mold changer at the company, told the Knoxville News Sentinel that as the flooding started, managers instructed employees to move their cars away from the rising water – but would not let them leave. “They should’ve evacuated when we got the flash flood warnings, and when they saw the parking lot,” he said to the newspaper. “When we moved our cars, we should’ve evacuated then … we asked them if we should evacuate, and they told us not yet, it wasn’t bad enough.

“And by the time it was bad enough, it was too late – unless you had a four-wheel drive.”

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/oct/01/tennessee-plastics-factory-hurricane

[riversedge]

1. How horrible for the victims and their families.

[Coventina]

2. I hope the lawsuits will be allow their families to live comfortably. nt

[onethatcares]

5. hate to tell you this but

if any of the owners survived they probably will declare bankruptcy and no one will get anything

[Coventina]

6. I'm sure you're correct. Gd-damn them!!

[SunSeeker]

40. If it turns out this was intentional, they may not be able to discharge the claim in bankruptcy.

They can declare bankruptcy on wrongful death claims, based in negligence, but not intentional torts. Nor can you discharge punitive damages. There is word that the managers had already fled but refused to let the workers go. This is looking pretty intentional.

[Squaredeal]

53. Their money is probably already overseas

Its not uncommon to register a company elsewhere to avoid paying U.S. taxes on profits.

[ZonkerHarris]

26. and close the company. f them

[marble falls]

3. The trick to getting out is bugging when you can. That company showed a depraved indifference to its employees.

[vanlassie]

13. Happens every time. Focus is on maintaining status quo for as long as possible.

[2naSalit]

23. It's the capitalist way after all.

[misanthrope]

63. As it will be with climate change on the whole

Its endemic to not just capitalism but our species.

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

4. more

https://www.reddit.com/r/TikTokCringe/comments/1ftpfr2/6_lives_lost_after_impact_plastics_workers_were/

[Hope22]

9. Heartbreaking........n/t

[pfitz59]

42. Horrific way to die

The owners will likely say: 'God's will!'

[malaise]

7. The owners should be arrested for murder

That is all

There is no employer on this island who could try that shit.

[jaxexpat]

11. Was just thinking how America's classist society is looking like Japan.......

in the run up to WWII. No sacrifice too great for the emperor. A study in response to influences of obligation v responsibility in a thought-controlled environment. I wonder how many if Japan's industrialist elite regularly solicited sacrifice from their employees through coercion, calling out loyalty, fealty.

Bonsai indeed. Who would have thought a little tree could be such an asshole? Such foolishness would have never flown in pre-Reagan times.

[malaise]

16. Interesting take

It is greed that fuels all of them - greed and the view that we are disposable.
Here the minute we hear tropical storm, we act in our own interests. Business owners can give all the orders they want.

[dobleremolque]

32. Banzai rather than bonsai?

Banzai, Japanese war cry or exclamation of happiness.
Bonsai, Japanese horticultural art of tree miniaturization.

[jaxexpat]

57. You saw right to the heart of my little word play.

[Blue Full Moon]

8. It's murder, serial killers.

Corporations have almost total immunity. They need to go to jail. No fees or fines that are just chomp change to them. Corporations need reeled in and the owners, managers and CEO, plant manager need to be held accountable. They have personhood so make them accountable they murdered people for money. Boars Head just murdered 9 people and hospitalized more. Again murdered for money. Chevrolet murdered for money. Over a 2 dollar bolt.

[Clouds Passing]

19. " They have personhood so make them accountable" YES! YES! YES!

[ShazzieB]

24. Not serial killing, mass murder, at least in this particular instance.

That's what you call it when a whole bunch of people are murdered at one time. Serial killing is one person at a time, on separate occasions.

I'm not sure about all the other examples you cited, but there may be some of both in there.

[SunSeeker]

41. It is looking like murder.

There is word that the managers had already fled but refused to let the workers go. If true, that's murder, or at minimum, involuntary manslaughter.

[ShazzieB]

50. If the managers left and told the workers they had to stay, that's reprehensible.

Definitely deserving of some sort of serious criminal charge.

Stories like this always make me think about how Republicans like to claim that it's wrong to have so many regulations that businesses have to follow (including health and safety regulations) because Free Enterprise! And $$$! Sure, Jan.

[Blue Full Moon]

54. Gerald O'Connor GOP

He is the founder.
The Bible verse in the article about him.
Is Proverbs 29:18. Where there is no vision, the people perish.
He gave money to the Healthcare Freedom Pac. I guess he wants to make sure his employees had the worst possible insurance.

[niyad]

10. I wonder how much "dead peasant" insurance those fucking scum owners

carry? I am guessing any employees who left would have been fired?

Years ago, the casino where I was working almost had a replay of the casino fire in Vegas. As a matter of curiosity, I asked one of the supervisors what the actual protocol was for exiting in case of emergency, and was told a lot of nonsense. I explained that none of that was going to happen, I would just be leaving. The idiot supervisor said, "Then you would be fired." I smiled very sweetly and said, "But you would have to survive in order to fire me, and you wouldn't," and walked away. The idiot was fired shortly thereafter for something equally stupid.

[jaxexpat]

12. our best is not in Las Vegas

[niyad]

15. This was a very long time ago. I could not speak to the current state

of affairs in the Nevada casinos.

[Bev54]

21. Every business should have a muster station and all employees should know where it is in

case of emergency, so employees will meet there and they can assess if anyone is missing.

[malaise]

22. Good question

Rec

[BSloat]

14. Murder?

Are the managers who told the employees not to leave now culpable to be charged with the murders of those employees?

[calimary]

18. I hope so.

Probably won’t happen, but that’s what should happen. What were they supposed to do? Stay and keep working???

[Danmel]

17. Shades of the candle factory in Kentucky

Workers were not allowed to leave


https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/mayfield-candle-factory-destroyed-deadly-kentucky-tornado-closing-rcna12469

[Bev54]

20. Maybe they should not have been working to begin with????

They should have been with their families, ensuring they were safe.

[2naSalit]

25. Is TN a right to work state?

[ArkansasDemocrat1]

28. Yes, it is a Right To Fire Without Consequences state

[2naSalit]

34. Thanks...

I was wondering if that makes a difference when killed on the job due to supervisory malfeasance in regards to right to sue. I have never lived in a right to get fired state before, on purpose, so I don't know all the details.

[ArkansasDemocrat1]

37. That's exactly why. It benefits the boss when he screws up

[GB_RN]

46. Living In One, Myself...

I can tell you. You’re told that “This is a right-to-work state. That means you have a right to a job for as long as you want.”
What they DON’T tell you is that on the flip side of that coin, your employer has the right to terminate your employment, for any or no reason whatsoever, and with as much or as little notice as they want. And even worse is that you’re likely to be threatened with bad references and then say they’ll fight it if you try to claim unemployment benefits, with whatever excuse(s) make(s) you look bad.

Fuck “right to work.”

[2naSalit]

49. Sounds like...

It's about two steps away from serfdom. Glad I'm retired now, not a personal concern anymore.

[GB_RN]

51. Not Far From It.

There is almost a visceral hatred of unions here in the South. Why, I don’t know. You’ll often hear someone say that unions are the reason (this moved overseas/that costs so much/blah, blah, blah).

Fucking morons don’t understand that unions are why we have a 40 hour work week, health insurance, no child labor unless you’re in Arkansas (or Mississippi/Alabama/Louisiana I forget which of those legalized some child labor, too), paid time off/sick days, etc.

All I can say is, “Never underestimate the ability of the masses to vote against their own self interests.” - me, rough paraphrasing of H.L. Mencken

[jmowreader]

31. How did you guess?

Tennessee is not only a right-to-work state since 1946, they welded it into the Tennessee Constitution in 2022.

[2naSalit]

36. Something...

behind the cobwebs in my memory I seem to recall that TN was not a good state to work in. I passed through it twice a week for years but only stopped for more than an hour a few times, like when making a delivery. I didn't like what I saw and made a point to investigate states for such maladies before moving to them.

[Jilly_in_VA]

33. Yes

I lived there for 35 years, and I can tell you with great certainty that it is a RIGHT TO SLAVE state. I was once told in an interview that if I was ever caught or found to be in any way promoting a union, I would be fired immediately. (looking at YOU, East Tennessee Children's Hospital!) My late ex worked at the plant that more than likely made the pistons in your car, and a union vote failed at least twice that I know of while he was there. In both cases, I know that there was active management tampering and interference with the election.

[GB_RN]

48. Ouch.

The hospitals I’ve worked in have never been that overt with it. But you are HIGHLY discouraged from talking to any union reps. They also say that they feel it’s better to negotiate one-on-one, “personal to person” rather than negotiating a one-size-fits-all contract, because after all, not everyone does the same thing or performs at the same level.

Of course, they dress all that up so that it sounds good, while they’re feeding you that shit sandwich.

[Jilly_in_VA]

58. There's one hospital that I know of in the area that's unionized

Oak Ridge Hospital. When I was working, they had an ironclad 4:1 patient-nurse staffing ratio, and they went to agencies routinely to maintain it. One of my friends supplemented her income by working there pretty regularly and liked it a lot.

[GB_RN]

59. Patient Ratios...

I wish. There was a committee meeting in the NC General Assembly about that topic, back earlier this year. There were a lot of witnesses asking for mandatory ratios, but there was one goon on the committee who kept insisting that “Ratios are bad, mmkay?” And that forcing ratios would strip hospitals of the staffing flexibility they need.

I know who was contributing to THAT asshole. Morons need to be reminded of what happens with “staffing flexibility,” with a specific example needing to be that of RaDonda Vaughn, at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

Goddamned morons don’t care who dies by accident. The hospital insurance will pay and they can always show they’re tough on crime by convicting the nurse.

I hate ‘em all.

[Jilly_in_VA]

61. California has patient ratios

When Ah-nold was the governor, he tried to get them increased. Then he got really sick with some kind of GI bug that landed him in the hospital and he saw how well they worked. He totally dropped his opposition and as a result they still have them. Nobody's mess with them since.

Besides, that's what travel nurses are for! (and what I used to be)

[GB_RN]

62. I Traveled For A Bit.

It was coincidental, but my first contract started the week before the COVID lockdowns, back in March, 2020.

With respect to ratios, obviously, I’m all in favor of them, even if they don’t affect me directly. I’ve been an adult cardiac cath lab RN since ‘17. Left the ICU behind and haven’t looked back. 😁

[maxsolomon]

27. the factory was on the opposite side of the interstate from the river.

unprecedented flash floods. biblical.

awful awful awful.

[Warpy]

29. My first big hurricane was Hazel, and she was no lady, either.

They didn't cancel school that day, the thinking was that we'd all be safer in a substantially built brick building than we would hat home in flimsy tract housing. Well they thought that until the mature oak trees surrounding the school started to fall on it. They kept us on the first floor while they organized a car convoy to get us home, dodging trees, power lines, and debris.

The point to this is that nobody really knows what the safe places were until a disaster is over. The factory guys might have thought that the factory would be better, it might have been on higher ground, away from cliffs, and had generators. You just never know. The lawsuits will determine whether they were being safety conscious or were just greed heads.

[ArkansasDemocrat1]

30. Manslaughter charges for all concerned

[iluvtennis]

35. Had I been a manager there, I would have sent my people home. And then I would've left right after them. Just fire me.

[2naSalit]

38. That would have been my choice too...

And if I was just grunt worker, would have gone anyway, no job is worth dying for was my motto.

[wendyb-NC]

39. That's so heartbreaking

That is too much.

[Person of Interest]

43. Remember when workers in Kentucky were told not to leave before a tornado struck...

Factory workers threatened with firing if they left before tornado, employees say

MAYFIELD, Ky. — As a catastrophic tornado approached this city Friday, employees of a candle factory — which would later be destroyed — heard the warning sirens and wanted to leave the building. But at least five workers said supervisors warned employees that they would be fired if they left their shifts early.

For hours, as word of the coming storm spread, as many as 15 workers beseeched managers to let them take shelter at their own homes, only to have their requests rebuffed, the workers said.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/kentucky-tornado-factory-workers-threatened-firing-left-tornado-employ-rcna8581

[Oneironaut]

44. The company put out a message saying, "We never actually told them not to leave!!!"

Why the fuck were they there during a category 4 hurricane then? Common sense would dictate that they were told to be there.

I’m sure it wasn’t written anywhere. Plausible deniability.

[turbinetree]

45. That manager and that firm's owner's should be charged with murder...........or reckless endangerment ...........

or manslaughter.................


Jacob Ingram, a mold changer at the company, told the Knoxville News Sentinel that as the flooding started, managers instructed employees to move their cars away from the rising water – but would not let them leave. “They should’ve evacuated when we got the flash flood warnings, and when they saw the parking lot,” he said to the newspaper. “When we moved our cars, we should’ve evacuated then … we asked them if we should evacuate, and they told us not yet, it wasn’t bad enough.

“And by the time it was bad enough, it was too late – unless you had a four-wheel drive.”

[SunSeeker]

56. "by the time it was bad enough, it was too late" - much like the "life of the mother" abortion ban exception.

[durablend]

47. Remember--45% of the country wants this AND MORE

[Docreed2003]

52. K&R for exposure

These were largely low income and immigrant workers who were told to stay in place during this horrific flooding. This needs to be exposed fully. I'm glad that it is reaching beyond local news here in TN

[Charmin One]

55. They died WORKING

The Murican way.

[The Third Doctor]

60. This reminds me when a previous

Job refused to shutdown during a tornado warning. The tornado was in the local area and it was night. I called in and got a point. Ridiculous