Imperial’s CEO Opens Safety Symposium

“What we begin here this evening may very well save the lives of many workers in our and our customer’s plants over the next decades,” said John Sheptor, president and CEO of Imperial Sugar Company. So began his remarks to industry leaders and top safety experts and executives from sugar companies across North America who gathered for the sugar industry’s first-ever symposium on production and food safety.

Hosted by Imperial Sugar Company at its sugar refinery in Port Wentworth, Ga., near Savannah, the symposium followed by more than 20 months a tragic explosion and fire that occurred in the same location in early 2008. The accident was blamed on combustible sugar dust created in the production process – a problem faced by all sugar manufacturers – and killed 14 workers and injured others. The company has since invested more than $220 million to rebuild the Port Wentworth refinery, using state-of-the-art safety and production technology.

Sheptor pledged to openly share what Imperial Sugar has learned and the steps his company has aggressively taken to make the refinery work place a safer environment. His company is investing in excess of $50 million on special safety technology to reduce the risk of another tragic event at the Port Wentworth plant as well as its other major refinery in Gramercy, La.

“We have changed procedures, modified equipment, employed new technology, conducted research and drills, and we have trained our personnel extensively,” Sheptor said. Yet, he noted that the company’s mission has only begun.

Sheptor said if the sugar industry heeds the call to action sent by the February 2008 explosion at Port Wentworth, the leaders of the U.S. sugar industry can work together to transform the ways that refineries are operated, create safer work places and meet demands for greater food safety.

“This is not the first time that tragedy has struck our industry due to a dust explosion and not enough has been done in the past. Will we respond more completely and improve our facilities for the generations to come? Imperial Sugar Company has answered that question for our sites with the investment of substantial resources. Will you join us?”