Tennessee’s workplace safety agency has absolved a plastics plant of responsibility in the deaths of six workers who were swept away by floodwaters from Hurricane Helene in September. 

[...]

The report from the Tennessee Occupational Safety and Health Administration (TOSHA) published Wednesday, said that because “work operations had stopped and employees had left the building,” the deaths were not work-related and thus not within its jurisdiction.

[...]

A criminal probe by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation into the deaths is still underway, said Leslie Earhart, the bureau’s spokesperson.

[...]

Attorneys representing relatives of some of the deceased employees rejected the probe’s conclusions.

“TOSHA’s report ignores multiple witnesses’ testimonies, critical text messages, emergency alert logs, and photographic evidence that tell the real story about Impact Plastics’ fatal failures," Zack Lawson, an attorney representing Alexa Peterson, Johnny Peterson’s daughter, in a wrongful death lawsuit against Impact Plastics. ...

Greg Coleman, an attorney for the Mendoza and Barnett families, said in a statement from his firm that they “vehemently disagree with any characterization that Impact Plastics exercised reasonable diligence in dismissing employees.” 

[...]

Relatives of the missing and dead factory employees, and those who survived, have alleged they were made to show up to work even as the hurricane was moving through the area.

The day before the historic flood, the National Weather Service in Morristown, Tennessee, issued several warnings of potential flooding for the rest of the week.

[...]

Impact Plastics, which manufactures components for cars, helicopters, furniture and other products, decided to open that Friday, as did several other nearby businesses.

Through lawyers, Impact Plastics said in a statement Wednesday that it welcomed the results of TOSHA’s investigation and that the company and its founder, Gerald O’Connor, have cooperated with it.

[...]