DuPonts Belle facility occupies more than acres along the Kanawha River, eight miles east of Charleston, the state capitalThe plant produces a variety of specialty chemicalsThe series of accidents began on January , , when an alarm sounded leading operators to discover that , pounds of methyl chloride, a flammable gas, had

On January , there was a release of highly toxic phosgene, exposing a veteran operator at the DuPont facility in Belle, West Virginia and resulting in his death one day laterDuPont officials told the CSB that a braided steel hose connected to a one ton capacity phosgene tank suddenly ruptured, releasing phosgene into the air.

DuPont employs approximately people at the Belle siteThe facility has seven primary operating divisions that span a acre manufacturing area that is nearly one mile in lengthAn additional acres owned by DuPont is situated just north of the site across Route and is referred to as the Mountain Area.

The Department of Justice and U.SEnvironmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today a settlement with E.Idu Pont de Nemours and Company (DuPont) at its Belle, WVafacility for eight alleged releases of harmful levels of hazardous substances between May and January Several of the releases posed significant risk to people or the Kanawha RiverOne DuPont worker died after

CSB has conducted four previous investigations into DuPont facilities, all in One of those accidents killed a worker in Belle, W.Va and in another, a worker died in Buffalo.

The U.SChemical Safety Board (CSB) found the lack of safe equipment design, ineffective mechanical integrity programs and a failure to investigate near misses contributed to a series of three accidents that occurred over a hour period on Jan and , , at the DuPont Corp.s Belle, W.Va chemical manufacturing plant.

On January , , a tube connected to a phosgene tank at DuPonts Belle, West Virginia, plant frayed, spraying the chemical on Fishs chestFish, a year DuPont veteran, was taken to the

The Belle facility went into stand down mode in January after a series of accidents, including a phosgene leak that killed a DuPont workerFollowing the incidents that occurred in January, the Belle site implemented a voluntary stand down to assess operations and conduct safety focused tasks.

A marker outside DuPont's Belle Plant in Dupont City, West Virginia, where ammonia was first synthesized for commercial useDuPont's Orlon plant in Camden, South Carolina, cs In the s, DuPont continued its emphasis on materials science , hiring Wallace Carothers to work on polymers in .

DuPont did not have an immediate responseThe safety board described several near misses at the Belle facility, but focused on a Jan, , incident that led to the death of an employee who had worked at the plant for years.