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The U.S. Chemical Safety Board and the state Department of Labor are both conducting independent investigations into what went wrong and have not yet been able to agree on how to share the site and the physical evidence at the plant.
"In this case, as in other cases, both agencies have an interest in the same evidence, we would hope to get an agreement in place governing the handling of the site as soon as possible," said Daniel Horowitz, a spokesman for the CSB.
Representatives from the two agencies could not explain the delay. The agencies have exchanged and rejected several versions of a written agreement that stipulates how key pieces of evidence will be handled and tested.
"I'm not certain why there's not an agreement," said Department of Labor spokesperson Neal O'Briant.
Both agencies said their separate investigations have not yet been hampered by the lack of a written site-sharing agreement.
"OSHA has been working cooperatively on the scene with the CSB folks," O'Briant said. "They're not butting heads."
CSB investigators announced Thursday that they suspect workers venting a natural gas line into an interior pump room released vapors that led to the explosion. The gas line was being connected to a commercial water heater being installed at the plant.
The CSB, an independent federal agency, aims to uncover the causes of the explosion and will publish a narrative of events leading up to and following the blast.
The Department of Labor is inspecting the plant for possible violations of Occupational Safety and Health Administration guidelines. O'Briant said the agency will not release any information regarding the case until the investigation is closed.
"The two agencies have complementary purposes," said Horowitz, the CSB spokesman. "They are looking at regulatory compliance. We are looking at root causes of the accident and making safety recommendations."
State labor departments and the CSB must often work in proximity at the sites of industrial accidents, sharing physical evidence and conducting separate witness interviews. The North Carolina Department of Labor and the CSB have worked together in three incidents in the last eight years.
Following their investigation into the explosion at the West Pharmaceutical plant in Kinston in 2003, OSHA adopted new guidelines regarding combustible dust.
"Generally, it's been a positive relationship, and there's been good coordination," Horowitz said.
He added, however, that he could not yet say the same of the relationship between the two agencies in Garner.
"I can't really characterize it at this stage," Horowitz said. "I hope we'll be able to work quickly to come to an agreement soon, and we certainly respect the work that they do."
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