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BlueWaveNeverEnd

(10,847 posts)
Tue Oct 1, 2024, 02:40 PM Oct 2024

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



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
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Tennessee plastics factory staff killed in Hurricane Helene reportedly told not to evacuate (Original Post) BlueWaveNeverEnd Oct 2024 OP
How horrible for the victims and their families. riversedge Oct 2024 #1
I hope the lawsuits will be allow their families to live comfortably. nt Coventina Oct 2024 #2
hate to tell you this but onethatcares Oct 2024 #5
I'm sure you're correct. Gd-damn them!! Coventina Oct 2024 #6
If it turns out this was intentional, they may not be able to discharge the claim in bankruptcy. SunSeeker Oct 2024 #40
Their money is probably already overseas Squaredeal Oct 2024 #53
and close the company. f them ZonkerHarris Oct 2024 #26
The trick to getting out is bugging when you can. That company showed a depraved indifference to its employees. marble falls Oct 2024 #3
Happens every time. Focus is on maintaining status quo for as long as possible. vanlassie Oct 2024 #13
It's the capitalist way after all. 2naSalit Oct 2024 #23
As it will be with climate change on the whole misanthrope Oct 2024 #63
more BlueWaveNeverEnd Oct 2024 #4
Heartbreaking........n/t Hope22 Oct 2024 #9
Horrific way to die pfitz59 Oct 2024 #42
The owners should be arrested for murder malaise Oct 2024 #7
Was just thinking how America's classist society is looking like Japan....... jaxexpat Oct 2024 #11
Interesting take malaise Oct 2024 #16
Banzai rather than bonsai? dobleremolque Oct 2024 #32
You saw right to the heart of my little word play. jaxexpat Oct 2024 #57
It's murder, serial killers. Blue Full Moon Oct 2024 #8
" They have personhood so make them accountable" YES! YES! YES! Clouds Passing Oct 2024 #19
Not serial killing, mass murder, at least in this particular instance. ShazzieB Oct 2024 #24
It is looking like murder. SunSeeker Oct 2024 #41
If the managers left and told the workers they had to stay, that's reprehensible. ShazzieB Oct 2024 #50
Gerald O'Connor GOP Blue Full Moon Oct 2024 #54
I wonder how much "dead peasant" insurance those fucking scum owners niyad Oct 2024 #10
our best is not in Las Vegas jaxexpat Oct 2024 #12
This was a very long time ago. I could not speak to the current state niyad Oct 2024 #15
Every business should have a muster station and all employees should know where it is in Bev54 Oct 2024 #21
Good question malaise Oct 2024 #22
Murder? BSloat Oct 2024 #14
I hope so. calimary Oct 2024 #18
Shades of the candle factory in Kentucky Danmel Oct 2024 #17
Maybe they should not have been working to begin with???? Bev54 Oct 2024 #20
Is TN a right to work state? 2naSalit Oct 2024 #25
Yes, it is a Right To Fire Without Consequences state ArkansasDemocrat1 Oct 2024 #28
Thanks... 2naSalit Oct 2024 #34
That's exactly why. It benefits the boss when he screws up ArkansasDemocrat1 Oct 2024 #37
Living In One, Myself... GB_RN Oct 2024 #46
Sounds like... 2naSalit Oct 2024 #49
Not Far From It. GB_RN Oct 2024 #51
How did you guess? jmowreader Oct 2024 #31
Something... 2naSalit Oct 2024 #36
Yes Jilly_in_VA Oct 2024 #33
Ouch. GB_RN Oct 2024 #48
There's one hospital that I know of in the area that's unionized Jilly_in_VA Oct 2024 #58
Patient Ratios... GB_RN Oct 2024 #59
California has patient ratios Jilly_in_VA Oct 2024 #61
I Traveled For A Bit. GB_RN Oct 2024 #62
the factory was on the opposite side of the interstate from the river. maxsolomon Oct 2024 #27
My first big hurricane was Hazel, and she was no lady, either. Warpy Oct 2024 #29
Manslaughter charges for all concerned ArkansasDemocrat1 Oct 2024 #30
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. iluvtennis Oct 2024 #35
That would have been my choice too... 2naSalit Oct 2024 #38
That's so heartbreaking wendyb-NC Oct 2024 #39
Remember when workers in Kentucky were told not to leave before a tornado struck... Person of Interest Oct 2024 #43
The company put out a message saying, "We never actually told them not to leave!!!" Oneironaut Oct 2024 #44
That manager and that firm's owner's should be charged with murder...........or reckless endangerment ........... turbinetree Oct 2024 #45
"by the time it was bad enough, it was too late" - much like the "life of the mother" abortion ban exception. SunSeeker Oct 2024 #56
Remember--45% of the country wants this AND MORE durablend Oct 2024 #47
K&R for exposure Docreed2003 Oct 2024 #52
They died WORKING Charmin One Oct 2024 #55
This reminds me when a previous The Third Doctor Oct 2024 #60

onethatcares

(16,707 posts)
5. hate to tell you this but
Tue Oct 1, 2024, 02:50 PM
Oct 2024

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

SunSeeker

(54,963 posts)
40. If it turns out this was intentional, they may not be able to discharge the claim in bankruptcy.
Tue Oct 1, 2024, 04:47 PM
Oct 2024

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

(598 posts)
53. Their money is probably already overseas
Tue Oct 1, 2024, 06:08 PM
Oct 2024

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

marble falls

(63,629 posts)
3. The trick to getting out is bugging when you can. That company showed a depraved indifference to its employees.
Tue Oct 1, 2024, 02:47 PM
Oct 2024

misanthrope

(8,546 posts)
63. As it will be with climate change on the whole
Thu Oct 3, 2024, 06:27 PM
Oct 2024

Its endemic to not just capitalism but our species.

malaise

(281,618 posts)
7. The owners should be arrested for murder
Tue Oct 1, 2024, 02:54 PM
Oct 2024

That is all

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

 

jaxexpat

(7,794 posts)
11. Was just thinking how America's classist society is looking like Japan.......
Tue Oct 1, 2024, 03:37 PM
Oct 2024

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

(281,618 posts)
16. Interesting take
Tue Oct 1, 2024, 03:52 PM
Oct 2024

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

(968 posts)
32. Banzai rather than bonsai?
Tue Oct 1, 2024, 04:34 PM
Oct 2024

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

Blue Full Moon

(1,832 posts)
8. It's murder, serial killers.
Tue Oct 1, 2024, 03:32 PM
Oct 2024

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.

ShazzieB

(19,687 posts)
24. Not serial killing, mass murder, at least in this particular instance.
Tue Oct 1, 2024, 04:25 PM
Oct 2024

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

(54,963 posts)
41. It is looking like murder.
Tue Oct 1, 2024, 04:56 PM
Oct 2024

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

(19,687 posts)
50. If the managers left and told the workers they had to stay, that's reprehensible.
Tue Oct 1, 2024, 05:43 PM
Oct 2024

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

(1,832 posts)
54. Gerald O'Connor GOP
Tue Oct 1, 2024, 06:17 PM
Oct 2024

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

(122,572 posts)
10. I wonder how much "dead peasant" insurance those fucking scum owners
Tue Oct 1, 2024, 03:37 PM
Oct 2024

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.

niyad

(122,572 posts)
15. This was a very long time ago. I could not speak to the current state
Tue Oct 1, 2024, 03:44 PM
Oct 2024

of affairs in the Nevada casinos.

Bev54

(12,168 posts)
21. Every business should have a muster station and all employees should know where it is in
Tue Oct 1, 2024, 04:12 PM
Oct 2024

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

BSloat

(6 posts)
14. Murder?
Tue Oct 1, 2024, 03:44 PM
Oct 2024

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

calimary

(85,353 posts)
18. I hope so.
Tue Oct 1, 2024, 04:04 PM
Oct 2024

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

Bev54

(12,168 posts)
20. Maybe they should not have been working to begin with????
Tue Oct 1, 2024, 04:10 PM
Oct 2024

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

2naSalit

(95,882 posts)
34. Thanks...
Tue Oct 1, 2024, 04:36 PM
Oct 2024

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.

GB_RN

(3,316 posts)
46. Living In One, Myself...
Tue Oct 1, 2024, 05:20 PM
Oct 2024

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

(95,882 posts)
49. Sounds like...
Tue Oct 1, 2024, 05:30 PM
Oct 2024

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

GB_RN

(3,316 posts)
51. Not Far From It.
Tue Oct 1, 2024, 05:48 PM
Oct 2024

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

(51,979 posts)
31. How did you guess?
Tue Oct 1, 2024, 04:34 PM
Oct 2024

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

2naSalit

(95,882 posts)
36. Something...
Tue Oct 1, 2024, 04:39 PM
Oct 2024

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

(11,686 posts)
33. Yes
Tue Oct 1, 2024, 04:34 PM
Oct 2024

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

(3,316 posts)
48. Ouch.
Tue Oct 1, 2024, 05:27 PM
Oct 2024

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

(11,686 posts)
58. There's one hospital that I know of in the area that's unionized
Wed Oct 2, 2024, 11:49 AM
Oct 2024

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

(3,316 posts)
59. Patient Ratios...
Wed Oct 2, 2024, 12:00 PM
Oct 2024

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

(11,686 posts)
61. California has patient ratios
Thu Oct 3, 2024, 11:54 AM
Oct 2024

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

(3,316 posts)
62. I Traveled For A Bit.
Thu Oct 3, 2024, 06:25 PM
Oct 2024

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

(36,005 posts)
27. the factory was on the opposite side of the interstate from the river.
Tue Oct 1, 2024, 04:31 PM
Oct 2024

unprecedented flash floods. biblical.

awful awful awful.

Warpy

(113,131 posts)
29. My first big hurricane was Hazel, and she was no lady, either.
Tue Oct 1, 2024, 04:33 PM
Oct 2024

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.

iluvtennis

(21,082 posts)
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.
Tue Oct 1, 2024, 04:38 PM
Oct 2024

2naSalit

(95,882 posts)
38. That would have been my choice too...
Tue Oct 1, 2024, 04:42 PM
Oct 2024

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

Person of Interest

(375 posts)
43. Remember when workers in Kentucky were told not to leave before a tornado struck...
Tue Oct 1, 2024, 05:01 PM
Oct 2024

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

(5,915 posts)
44. The company put out a message saying, "We never actually told them not to leave!!!"
Tue Oct 1, 2024, 05:12 PM
Oct 2024

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

(25,827 posts)
45. That manager and that firm's owner's should be charged with murder...........or reckless endangerment ...........
Tue Oct 1, 2024, 05:14 PM
Oct 2024

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

(54,963 posts)
56. "by the time it was bad enough, it was too late" - much like the "life of the mother" abortion ban exception.
Tue Oct 1, 2024, 08:53 PM
Oct 2024

Docreed2003

(18,092 posts)
52. K&R for exposure
Tue Oct 1, 2024, 05:59 PM
Oct 2024

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

The Third Doctor

(423 posts)
60. This reminds me when a previous
Wed Oct 2, 2024, 12:36 PM
Oct 2024

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

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