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On April 30, 2017, 60-year-old Lawrence Ray Shiner Jr. was repairing a 145-foot-tall boiler at the Kapstone Paper and Packaging paper mill in North Charleston, SC.\\xa0

While he was repairing the boiler, he was buried in an "avalanche of salt cake" and died as a result of the industrial accident.\\xa0

A new wrongful death lawsuit filed by Shiner\\u2019s estate is attempting to hold Palmetto Industrial Services and Thompson Industrial Services accountable. Palmetto and Thompson were hired by Kapstone to clean residue out the 13-story boiler. The lawsuit states that both companies were responsible for making sure that the boilers were safe for maintenance operations.\\xa0

Shiner and the co-workers were underneath the boiler when one employee heard a \\u201cloud rumble.\\u201d\\xa0

According to the lawsuit, a massive amount of toxic salt cake fell on Shiner and another coworker. Shiner was buried alive.\\xa0

The coworker was buried up to his neck, but was pulled from the avalanche by the plant\\u2019s in-house rescue staff. The rescue team was on site in minutes and tried to dig Shiner out, but to no avail.\\xa0

According to WCSC, the lawsuit accuses Palmetto and Thompson of a "failure to properly remove all salt cake deposits accumulated on the interior tubes and walls.\\u201c\\xa0

According to the lawsuit, Shiner suffocated under the \\u201ctoxic residual salt cake\\u201d and died of\\xa0 mechanical asphyxiation.

OSHA has cited Kapstone, now owned by WestRock, several times for unsafe working conditions.

Shiner left behind a wife, two kids and eight grandchildren. A GoFundMe page set up for his family described him as \\u201ca family man, good friend and Union man.\\u201d

GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/3q70ztk

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