A state investigation found no wrongdoing by a Tucson scrap yard where a worker died last year after he cut into a military bomb, causing an explosion.
Tucson Iron & Metal, 690 E. 36th St., was cleared in the accidental death of Daniel Wright, 46, according to an Arizona Division of Occupational Safety and Health report obtained Friday by the Star.
The agency did find two βnon-seriousβ violations that had nothing to do with the accidental death.
One regarded no employee training on the maintenance work on equipment and machines, and the other was for not keeping written certification of training and evaluation for each of the employees who operated industrial trucks, according to documents. Neither resulted in fines by state officials.
David Selden, a Phoenix attorney for Gary Kippur, owner of Tucson Iron & Metal, could not be reached for comment Friday. Kippur, who was out of town, also could not be reached.
On Sept. 23, 2015, Wright was immediately killed while using an acetylene cutting torch to cut into an MK-82 general purpose bomb, authorities said.
According to the report, another employee who recognized the piece to be an ordnance advised Wright that they were not to cut into anything that might be an explosive. He said Wright told him that he believed it was safe because he had reached his hands into both ends of the cylindrical tube and he thought it was hollow.
The MK-82 is a 500-pound bomb about 5 feet in length, according to military websites. It is manufactured by General Dynamics. βThis ordnance has been in use for more than 50 years by the Navy, Air Force and Marines,β said 1st Lt. Erin Ranaweera, a Davis-Monthan Air Force Base spokeswoman, shortly after the incident. The bomb was not from D-M and all ordnance on base and at the plane storage area known as the βbone yardβ had been accounted for, Ranaweera said previously.
The ordnance had been dismantled but residue remained in what looked like a cylinder, according to Tucson Police Department reports. Police initially investigated the death, but once it was ruled an industrial accident an administrative investigation was assigned to special agents of the Air Force Office of Special Investigations at D-M.
The Tucson Police bomb squad and the baseβs bomb squad both worked on the investigation at the scrap yard. The fragments and unexploded pieces were removed hours after the explosion and taken to the base for further tests before the fragments were detonated on the base.
Kippur told state investigators that it was determined the ordnance had been at the scrap yard for about one month before the explosion. Kippur said he had not been able to determine where the ordnance was sent from to the scrap yard.
Kippur also told officials that the bomb was in the very back of the yard, but workers could not identify what truck it came in on, since many trucks dump product there. He told investigators the yard does receive military scrap from D-M, but he doubts the ordnance came from the base. Kippur said since the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks the base has been very careful about what they send out, according to the state report.
In the state report, D-Mβs 355th Wing Commander Col. James Meger told investigators that he was able to determine the device was βdecadesβ old and at some point had been dropped from an aircraft. βThis was based on clear evidence of the device nose impacting the ground at high speed and other technical factors related to its physical condition unrelated to the blast,β the report states.
Arizona Sen. John McCain has asked defense officials for an explanation of how unexploded military ordnance ended up at the scrap yard.
State officials also have asked for the Air Force report on the investigation, but had not received any information, according to the documents.
