Deadly explosion not deemed suspicious
Investigation continues into blast that killed man, 62, at Newburyport chemical plant
Fire investigators returned Friday to the scene of a deadly explosion at a pharmaceutical chemical plant in Newburyport and have preliminarily determined it does not appear suspicious, a state official said.
But the probe into the blast at the PSI Synthesis plant Thursday that killed a worker is continuing, a spokesman for the state fire marshal’s office said.
“The explosion appears related to a chemical manufacturing process and does not appear suspicious, but the exact cause remains under investigation,” Jake Wark, public information officer for the state Department of Fire Services, said in an e-mail Friday afternoon.
In a statement, Newburyport Fire Chief Stephen H. Bradbury III said firefighters and hazmat teams on Friday removed chemicals from the plant, including about 48 barrels of acetone, methanol, and isopropyl alcohol.
“This is meticulous work, but this is why we have such highly-trained professionals available to assist,” he said.
The worker killed in the explosion was identified as Jack O’Keefe, 62, of Methuen, according to Essex District Attorney Paul F. Tucker’s office. He was one of five workers inside the plant around 12:45 a.m. when the catastrophic explosion took place.
The state medical examiner’s office will conduct an autopsy. Tucker’s office will investigate the death, officials said.
Four other workers who were also inside the plant were treated and released from a local hospital Thursday, officials said.
It marked the third time in three years that an explosion or fire had occurred at the Newburyport facility, which workplace safety and environmental regulators have cited for infractions on repeated occasions.
At a press briefing Friday near the plant, Newburyport Fire Acting Deputy Chief Barry Salt said the focus of firefighters on Thursday — once the fire was knocked down — was to recover O’Keefe’s body “and return him to his family.”
“We’d like to recall his memory and let the family
know that we as a fire department and as a city . . . are thinking of them,’’ Salt said.
O’Keefe’s family could not be reached Friday night.
Carol and Robert Ratcliffe of Methuen said they were longtime friends of O’Keefe, who grew up in Lawrence.
“He was a happy-go-lucky guy, always with a smile on his face,” Carol Ratcliffe, 57, said in a phone interview Friday night. “Not a bad word about anyone came out of his mouth. We’re all going to miss him.”
Robert Ratcliffe, 68, said he first met O’Keefe about 15 years ago at a bar another friend owned in Lawrence. They quickly bonded over a shared love of the Patriots and other Boston sports teams.
“We hit it off,” Robert Ratcliffe said. “We’d hang out at the tavern, watch sports together, and have our battles about who was going to win.”
They said O’Keefe was a father of two grown children and he worked at the Newburyport plant for “many years.”
“He was a dedicated worker,” Robert Rat cliff es aid .“He worked the night shift for a long time.”
Firefighters recovered O’Keefe’s body around 5:25 p.m. Thursday near where the explosion took place. The explosion was so powerful it blasted a heavy metal vat through the roof, sending it into the air before it landed some 30 feet from the building in the parking lot, officials have said.
Attention now turns to ensuring the factory is safe for investigators and the cleanup crew hired by PSI Synthesis, Salt said.
The explosion tore apart the production area in the back of the facility and sent debris as far as 800 feet away in three directions, Salt said. The blast also brought down the building’s roof onto the 55-gallon drums holding chemicals that had been stored in a warehouse and on the production floor. Some of the drums had been pierced by falling debris or were buried under building materials, he said.
“It’s still a big pile,” he said. Salt said there is no ongoing threat to neighbors and the community. The factory uses a variety of chemicals in its production process for generic medicines and other pharmaceutical materials.
“Since the event happened, and even prior to that, this facility had self-containment for spills. Everything’s contained on site,” Salt said. “There is no risk to the environment.”
Air quality meters have been placed around the scene’s perimeter and have shown no hazards in the air, officials said.
Once hazmat personnel determine the interior is safe, the site will be turned back over to PSI Synthesis to allow a cleanup company using heavy construction equipment to begin knocking down and removing the remnants of the heavily damaged building, Salt said.
The company has promised to cooperate with the investigation.
The fatal explosion was the third time since 2020 that Newburyport firefighters responded to an emergency at the factory, which is licensed by the fire department, the city, and the state.
“This event will determine their status to operate in the future,’’ Salt said.
The city has already issued a cease and desist order while the investigation is underway, and Mayor Sean R. Reardon has said he considers public safety for residents and first responders to be of a higher priority than the continued operation of PSI and the jobs it provides to the region.
The plant is operated by PCI Systems, a unit of the Francebased Seqens group that is involved in the production of generic drugs typically found in medicine cabinets, such as overthe-counter painkillers and antihistamines, according to the company’s website. Its New England operations are headquartered in Newburyport and it also has a research and development laboratory in Devens.
“The safety of our employees has always been, and continues to be, our top priority,” the company said in its statement. “We strive to follow best practices and regulatory guidelines, and have implemented safety protocols and procedures to prevent incidents like this from occurring.”
The company did not immediately respond to Globe inquiries on Friday about O’Keefe and its plans going forward.
In 2021, the Newburyport plant used more than 100,000 pounds of toluene, methanol, and methylene chloride, according to Heather Tenney of the Toxics Use Reduction Institute at UMass Lowell. The company also used more than 10,000 pounds of acetone, ethyl acetate, hydrochloric acid, and sulfuric acid, she said. Toluene, methanol, acetone, and ethyl acetate are all flammable.