The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is taking steps to develop a standard to address the hazards of combustible dust. An explosion at Imperial Sugar in Port Wentworth, Ga., killed 14 workers last year. More than 130 workers have died and more than 780 were injured in such explosions since 1980.

Imperial Sugar has restarted its Georgia refinery to resume making crystal sugar for the first time since a deadly 2008 explosion devastated the plant near Savannah. Employees fired up the boiler at the nation’s second-largest sugar refinery Tuesday morning and planned to start shipping liquid sugar by Thursday. The first truckloads of crystal sugar are to follow within the next 10 days.

Attorneys for one of the nation’s largest sugar producers say a whistleblower faked a report to company executives warning of explosive dust days before a fatal blast at the company’s refinery near Savannah.

A newspaper says a consultant warned Imperial Sugar about combustible dust hazards at its Georgia refinery just two days before a deadly explosion devastated the plant near Savannah.  A Savannah newspaper reports in Tuesday’s editions that consultant McAljon Engineering warned of impaired dust collection systems at the refinery in a report dated Feb. 5, 2008. A huge explosion rocked the plant two days later.

A Chatham County judge says Sen. Saxby Chambliss won’t have to answer questions from a Savannah lawyer suing Imperial Sugar on behalf of victims of the explosion at its Georgia refinery.

Attorneys for U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss are heading to court in Savannah to fight a subpoena by an attorney suing Imperial Sugar. Chatham County Superior Court Judge Herman W. Coolidge is scheduled to hear arguments from attorneys Tuesday.

The Imperial Sugar Family in Savannah marked the first anniversary of an explosion and fire Saturday by dedicating a memorial in honor of the 14 employees who died. In the center of the park is a cross made out of bricks salvaged from the rubble.

Community pays tribute to the first responders, from dozens of departments around the area, for their service at last year’s Imperial Sugar Plant explosion.

A Georgia congressman is asking lawmakers for a second time to mandate new safety regulations against industrial dust explosions such as the one that killed 14 workers at a sugar refinery near Savannah a year ago.

Imperial Sugar’s coastal Georgia plant is operating again for the first time since a February explosion killed 14 people and injured dozens more. Company CEO John Sheptor said Wednesday the refinery in Port Wentworth resumed producing liquid sugar earlier this month and on Thursday will receive its first shipment of raw sugar since the explosion nearly 10 months ago.

Sen. Saxby Chambliss is fighting a subpoena by a Savannah attorney who’s suing Imperial Sugar on behalf of victims of the deadly February explosion at its Georgia refinery. Chambliss spokeswoman Michelle Hitt Grasso says federal law and Senate rules make the Republican senator immune from giving a deposition in the case.

Imperial Sugar refinery rebuilds after explosion. Wednesday morning, Imperial Sugar broke ground on the new facility in Port Wentworth, near Savannah.