ROCKDALE COUNTY, Ga. — Less than two weeks after a massive chemical explosion caused a huge fire, a health and safety inspector at a nearby company says he was fired for trying to keep his employees safe.
The Gates Corporation is a global manufacturing company located about seven miles from the BioLab facility in Conyers.
Two safety inspectors filed a lawsuit, accusing the company of retaliation.
The Gates Corporation has multiple facilities across the country and internationally where they make belts, hoses and more in all different types of cars.
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Jen Dominick told Channel 2’s Tyisha Fernandes that for more than seven years, she was one of the regional health and safety environmental managers for the Gates Corporation.
She said that during COVID-19 restrictions, the company did the right thing by employees.
“They abided by some of the most strict regulations,” Dominick said.
However, she said that in October of 2022, things changed when new leadership took over.
“As we continued to bring forth environmental safety concerns under the new leadership, it was definitely pushed away,” she said.
Peter Harris was also a health and safety inspector for Gates.
“My hands were kind of tied,” he said.
Harris says in 2024, after a chemical explosion at the BioLab plant, employees began coming to him with health concerns.
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“They were saying they were vomiting in the office, nausea, dizziness in the office,” Harris said.
He says after over a week of pushing to close the facility, he was fired.
Even though Rockdale County officials issued a shelter in place for the entire county and state officials issued a local area emergency covering a 50-mile radius for at least a week.
“There was so much pressure to keep production running, you know, they just made that a priority,” Harris said.
Part of his complaint says, “Vice President of Supply Chain leaned towards keeping the facility open for operational reasons, despite the clear health risks to employees.”
“Some of the leadership was actually hospitalized,” Harris said.
A spokesperson for Gates emailed Fernandes and said they do not comment on pending litigation.
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