Oct. 30, 2024

The Louisiana State Police has confirmed an explosion at the Goex factory located at Camp Minden early Wednesday morning.      

Louisiana State Police Public Information Officer Eddie Thomas said an employee of the factory called the Hazardous Materials Hotline around 7 a.m. Wednesday. The incident required an evacuation of the facility but there were no injuries.

According to Thomas there is no indication of any threat to the public and the incident was contained within the facility.  Louisiana State Police is in charge of the investigation.

Originally Posted By fgshoot:  It's not like it was better in the past, Goex has had a rather poor safety history. The last fire was the deciding factor for Hodgdon to sell them. With Estes, a company that should know a thing or two about black powder, buying Goex, you would think they would be careful. According to google they did get Goex some new equipment. It looks like the military dumped a bunch of money into it, apparently they are one of the biggest users of black powder.

So new owners who should be knowledgeable, and were fully aware of the poor safety record. Millions of dollars dumped into this from the government. They just started production late 2023 or early 2024, and they already had an explosion. I just don't get it. I don't understand how they can be that careless. One guy at our work got a boo boo on his cheek from bumping into a beam on a lift , and now we are all required to wear hard hats and steel toe boots all the time. These guys blow up entire rooms every few years, and they still let it happen. If I worked in an explosives plant, I better be able to eat lunch off the toilet of that place. New staff or not, the safety procedures in place should not allow fires like this to happen, not at this frequency.

Originally Posted By fgshoot:  And yet other black powder plants have managed to do it safely. Swiss black powder for example has had zero major safety incidents in the last 20 years. At least as far as fire or explosion. We do not know if some maintenance guy got injured.
They had one explosion in 2003 that killed one person, and that's all I can find. That is a safer manufacturing plant than most, regardless of industry. It's likely safer than a fast food restaurant.

By comparison the Goex plant has had tons in the last 20 years. This is just what I could find. THREE incidents in 2004. One in 2006. Two bad ones in 2011 one injured. Another bad one in 2012, but this one is fishy, more on that. After that there was a big investigation and obviously a crackdown because they went almost 10 years before the bad fire in 2021 which shut them down. Then they get sold and re open and in a matter of months they have another fire here in 2024.

It's an absolute miracle I can't find any deaths from the last 20 years. If you go back, the safety from 1996 to 2004 is unbelievable.

1996 2 die in explosion, and the plant moves to camp minden. 1998 one dies in an explosion. 2000 one badly injured in a fire. 2001 two badly injured in an explosion. Then that 2004 incident, no injuries but that's when it gets sold to Hodgdon.

So obviously it can be safe when they want it to be. In my research that 2012 incident was not even the plants fault. That was illegal storage of explosive by the national guard. The more you read into camp minden the worse it gets.

I don't care about excuses of how dangerous it is. All manufacturing can be safe with proper safety precautions. The best thing would be to move out of camp minden, and likely Louisiana. Go to a place they actually care about safety of their workers.

Originally Posted By fgshoot:  Black powder can not be set off from static electricity, nor can it be set off from impact like primers can. It is can be ignited easy from spark or flame, even just a spark between a couple rocks can set it off. Spark between improperly grounded machinery could do it. A cigarette butt could do it. Shuffling your feet and touching metal will not do it. A look into the investigation for the 2011 incident shows the most likely cause was granite rock in the mill which caused friction until heat ignition. AKA, poor housekeeping.

Hodgdon finally had enough of it, they obviously saw the hocus pocus going on, and didn't want to be involved when things went bad again. I was hoping Estes would take things more seriously, and maybe even produce a superior product than the old Goex. The fact that it already had a major safety incident tells me nothing changed. It's just the same old thing it always was.

Originally Posted By fgshoot: I have.

Originally Posted By backbencher:


Then why worry about?

Originally Posted By fgshoot:  I am at an absolute loss of words. I can't tell if you are making fun of Louisiana, or if you are serious right now. There's good people down there. They don't deserve this.

Originally Posted By fgshoot:  Why the hell would I visit Louisiana after what you just said? I go to work every day, and I make damn sure I come home every day with my fingers and eyeballs. I will not associate with people who don't consider that a basic requirement.

Originally Posted By fgshoot:  No, I can't say I have any commercial fisherman friends. I was friends with someone who didn't care about safety one bit. He would regularly have a drink in one hand, chainsaw in the other, cigarette in the mouth. all while on a lift. He was a good guy, one of the most knowledgeable people I've ever met, but there was no way I would ever work with him. The one time I rode in a truck with him was enough. He's dead now, heart attack. He had heart problems for years, it's amazing he made it as long as he did. So maybe i didn't say it right. I would gladly check out new Orléans. I don't think you could pay me to tour the Goex plant. I guess it's their lives to live, I have no say, nor should I in Louisiana work safety, but I have no way of understanding why someone would willingly want to take the risk of being maimed or killed. Why wouldn't you go work on an oil rig and make the big money if you were ok with that level of risk?