The Woodland Pulp mill in Baileyville, seen in September 2025, was the site of a fatal gas leak in January that killed two young employees. (Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer)

Federal investigators on Tuesday detailed a series of safety failures that led to the preventable deaths of two young workers at a Maine paper mill in January.

The U.S. Chemical Safety Board’s update reveals Woodland Pulp lacked basic alarms, tracking systems and ventilation to protect employees from a predictable toxic gas release. The findings highlight safety gaps in a facility that remains a vital economic engine for Washington County.

“Although our investigation is still ongoing, it already is clear that this terrible tragedy should never have happened,” said Steve Owens, chairman of the U.S. Chemical Safety Board, in the Tuesday update.

The paper industry remains a cornerstone of the state’s rural economy, but the Woodland Pulp tragedy underscores the inherent dangers of aging industrial sites. Although mill deaths are rare, the incident raises questions about oversight of an industry that employs thousands of Mainers.

As detailed in an 11-page report, the preliminary investigation into the Jan. 27 leak found the mill was not equipped with stationary hydrogen sulfide gas detectors and employees weren’t outfitted with personal wearable monitors that would have warned them of the invisible gas.

A 2018 agreement between Woodland Pulp and workplace safety inspectors allowed the mill to bypass the most rigorous federal safety standards, like hydrogen sulfide monitors, because it did not store large amounts of hazardous chemicals, according to the report.

The two workers killed — Kasie Malcolm, a 20-year-old University of Maine student, and Allen Hornberger, a 26-year-old engineer — were working on the second floor of the mill, about 15 to 20 feet from a designated hydrogen sulfide release zone, according to the update.

Eight first-floor employees, another second-floor worker and a 10th-floor employee were also exposed to the toxic gas, but not as much or for as long as Malcolm and Hornberger, chemical inspectors determined. They suffered burning eyes and throats, but were not hospitalized.

The board concludes Malcolm and Hornberger were probably exposed to hydrogen sulfide gas levels topping 500 parts per million, or ppm. Exposure to 100 ppm is considered “immediately dangerous,” and anything over 500 ppm causes rapid respiratory paralysis and death.

The report concluded the mill was not using its primary safety system on the day of the leak.

Six months earlier, the primary acid injection system was damaged. Rather than fix it, the mill used a backup system located 1,000 feet upstream. The distance increased the time it took for chemicals to reach the sensors, contributing to the chemical reaction, the report said.

The lack of early warning was compounded by a failure to account for workers during the crisis, the report concludes. Malcolm and Hornberger were not found until three hours after the toxic gas had been cleared from the building, according to the board.

A CLOSER LOOK AT THE LEAK

This is how the report describes the incident: On January 27, the toxic hydrogen sulfide gas was generated in an old 1,000-foot-long acid sewer pipe — part of which was modified in the 1970s to flow upward — that collects waste from the wood chip bleaching area.

In a paper mill’s bleach plant, brown wood chips that have been turned into pulp get whitened and broken down further. Chemicals come in by railroad or truck and go into big tanks, then the white mush goes through washers to suck the chemicals back out.

A scrubber in the bleach plant is supposed to remove any toxic gases, but the fan was stopped in the market-related shutdown that occurred a few days before the incident. This allowed the gas to back up and escape into the larger Kraft Mill factory.

The gas didn’t just leak, the report concluded; it escaped through old holes and gashes left open.

Federal investigators found two 1-inch holes drilled in a vent pipe in 2006 for measurements that were never plugged, and a 6-inch by 2-inch gash left behind by prior maintenance that was never patched. These were found in the area where Malcolm and Hornberger died.

Woodland Pulp and its Hong Kong-based parent company, International Grand Investment Corp., are reviewing the chemical safety board’s initial findings, but are withholding comment while other investigations are playing out, according to spokesman Scott Beal.

The company has already completed its own internal investigation of the incident, but has not disclosed details of its findings or the action steps that Beal said Woodland Pulp has taken as a result. A U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration death investigation is pending.

The leak caused more than $16 million in property damage, according to the board’s findings. The company is the largest employer in Washington County, providing jobs for 440 workers. Woodland Pulp is one of a half-dozen paper mills still operating in Maine.

DEATHS NOT COMMON IN MAINE

OSHA has logged about six deaths a year from hydrogen sulfide exposures at U.S. worksites in the most recent five-year period, none in the paper industry. Most involved pumping, cleaning and maintenance work.

In paper and pulp manufacturing across the country, 10 people have died per year on average since 2011, data from the U.S. Department of Labor show. Until the Baileyville incident, none were in Maine.

Elizabeth Kayatta, an attorney representing one of the families of the men who died, said the victims “were casualties of a corporate culture that prioritized profits over people” in a written statement issued after the chemical board’s update.

Malcolm was a UMaine chemical engineering student who viewed the mill as his “path forward in life.” A Sanford native and high school athlete, he was preparing for a career fair and had asked his grandmother to set aside his dress suits just days before the leak.

Hornberger was an engineer who had joined the company five months before the incident. Described by his parents as “the light of our lives,” he lived in Lee with his girlfriend and cat, pursuing a career built on a passion for “continuous learning and growth.”

The board’s final report is expected to provide comprehensive safety recommendations.