Four former employees at BioLab’s Conyers facility say the company repeatedly ignored critical safety warnings in the years leading up to the September 2024 chemical fire that forced evacuations and raised health concerns.
The accounts, from two former engineers, a plant-floor worker, and someone familiar with BioLab’s safety protocols, mirrors findings in a recent report from the U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB).
“It was finance that ran that company — and if it didn't return benefits immediately, they weren't going to invest in it,” said the person familiar with safety measures, who asked to remain anonymous due to professional concerns. They left BioLab six months before the most recent fire, after what they described as “repeated warnings” were ignored.
Among the safety issues that person documented: broken eyewash stations, “corroding” fire extinguishers, and workers handling corrosive chemicals without basic personal protective equipment.
“They're not wearing aprons, they're not wearing safety glasses, they're not wearing any kind of PPE,” that person said. "This is not OK."
When they pushed management to supply better personal protective equipment, they said they were told, “You're gonna bust our budget giving PPE to contractors.”
Earlier this year, the Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) proposed a $61,473 fine, citing multiple serious violations related to chemical storage, emergency response and worker protection.
Randy Garcia, a former engineer who worked at BioLab from August 2022 to April 2024, said corrosion in the fire suppression system was a persistent issue.
“I must have replaced at least 40 sprinkler heads,” Garcia told GPB.
The recent investigation update from the CSB echoes those concerns. The agency’s investigators documented multiple sprinkler failures in the weeks leading up to the fire, including emergency repairs performed just nine days before the incident. They also observed signs of corrosion in the sprinkler system as early as 2019, shortly after the facility began storing trichloroisocyanuric acid (TCCA), a moisture-reactive pool chemical.
Kevin, a packaging engineer who worked at BioLab for more than five years and left at the end of 2019, said the loss of experienced safety leadership left the plant vulnerable.
“The safety guy who had been there for well over a decade left a couple of years ago,” he said. “He started in 2006 and left in 2022. So in the 16 years he was there? No fires. No big ones.”
But after that departure, GPB was told chemical reaction incidents became more frequent, such as smoke events that the staff began to call “smokers.”
“It was like small [decomposition] events that would happen weekly,” the former safety official said. “And it was just normal.”
One example while they were employed at BioLab was on Nov. 19, 2023. At least three people called Rockdale County Emergency services to report a “chlorine cloud” and strong chemical smell coming from BioLab and wafting across Interstate 20. One caller told dispatch they “couldn’t breathe and it’s burning my eyes.”
According to records, fire crews responded to BioLab and isolated two chemical sacks from which the chemical reaction originated. No employees were on site at the time, but a security guard was on duty.
The former safety official also flagged the company’s emergency response plan, which they say hadn’t been updated in years.
“On paper, we had something," they told GPB. "But was it useful in any way? No."
According to the CSB report, KIK Consumer Products, BioLab’s parent company, requires each of its facilities to have a site-specific Emergency Response Plan and CSB investigators noted that plan was followed during this most recent accident.
Pamela Pollet is a professor at Georgia Tech’s School of Chemistry and is its safety program coordinator. She reviewed the CSB report, but had questions about the specifics of BioLab’s emergency response protocol.
“I see there was a mention of a site specific emergency response plan but who develops that plan?” Pollet asked. “That was not clear to me. Do they have an environmental health and safety committee? Do they have somebody who was trained to do such a response plan? Do they do tabletop exercises with the community, the fire house or the response team with the county when these things happen?
"They have such an enormous amount of chemicals within the community; you would think that [would] be a priority.”
Tasheka Moore, who worked on the plant floor from 2019 to 2022, said employees frequently dealt with dizziness, chemical burns and upper respiratory problems.
“The only protection we were required to wear was safety glasses,” she told GPB. "We should have been provided oxygen masks and hazard suits because the chemicals burn your skin."
Industry standards for handling trichloroisocyanuric acid (TCCA), one of several chemicals stored at BioLab, recommend the use of gloves and respiratory protection. Moore said those standards were rarely enforced.
Moore also questioned whether workers were equipped to respond in a crisis.
“I don’t think the actual people working in the building are prepared,” she said. “I feel like the only thing they know is to evacuate and call for help."
BioLab has dealt with several fires between 2004 and 2024. The most recent fire prompted protests by residents demanding the company leave the area, as well as a number of lawsuits.
BioLab has announced it will not resume manufacturing in Conyers, though it will continue operating as a distribution facility. A company spokesperson said it is cooperating with the CSB investigation but declined to respond to claims from former employees.
Last month, BioLab said it had completed remediation work at the facility. But according to the Georgia Environmental Protection Division, a formal remediation plan is still being negotiated as part of a proposed consent order issued earlier this year.
The CSB’s investigation is ongoing. A final report is expected later this year.
GPB just published a six-part investigative podcast on the 2024 fire and GPB’s investigation. Listen to Manufacturing Danger: The BioLab Story wherever you get your podcasts.