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CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A Hancock County metals recycling plant where three workers died in a December explosion stored combustible materials near open flames and had an inadequate system for detecting flammable gases, federal investigators have concluded.

The AL Solutions Inc. plant in New Cumberland also was equipped with a water-based sprinkler system that would actually have caused an explosion if used to try to douse a fire involving the metals being processed at the site, according to citations issued by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

OSHA officials issued citations for one willful violation, 16 serious violations and one other-than-serious violation -- and fines of $154,000 -- last week, and then announced the move in a news release Tuesday.

"This tragedy could have been prevented," OSHA chief David Michaels said in the release. "It is imperative that employers take steps to eliminate hazards and provide a safe working environment."

AL Solutions recycles titanium and zirconium for use in the metals industry.

At about 1:30 p.m. on Dec. 9, 2010, brothers Jeffrey Scott Fish, 39, and James E. Fish, 38, and Steven Swain, 27, were working inside a reinforced concrete building where the recycling process is located. An explosion ripped through the building. The Fish brothers died at the scene, and Swain died later at a Pittsburgh hospital.

U.S. Chemical Safety Board investigators have said the concrete building was added to the plant in 1995, after a propane explosion killed a worker. Another death at the plant, in 2006, occurred in a different part of the facility.

OSHA alleged in one serious citation that the plant's production building had no system to limit the pressure buildup from the explosion of hydrogen gas produced during the blending and pressing of titanium and zirconium, or in the event of a fire.

According to another serious OSHA citation, the building's gas monitoring system allowed for samples to be diluted, making it ineffective in detecting a buildup of explosive hydrogen.

OSHA also alleged that the company's warehouse contained several hundred barrels of flammable metals stored in unsafe conditions, such as near open flames and in un-vented containers.

The willful citation issued by OSHA stemmed from the plant's water-based sprinkler system. "The application of water to burning combustible metals can result in hydrogen production and explosion," the citation said. OSHA recommended the use of a sand/salt fire suppression system instead.

Under OSHA rules, a willful violation is one committed with intentional knowing or voluntary disregard for the law's requirements, or with plain indifference to worker safety and health. The willful violation in this case carried a proposed fine of $70,000.

OSHA officials declined to make anyone with direct knowledge of the case available for a telephone interview Tuesday. But in an emailed statement, Prentice Cline, director of the agency's Charleston area office, said the sprinkler system played a major role in the accident.

"When the water from the sprinkler system made contact with the metal fire, it created hydrogen in sufficient quantity to result in an explosion and spreading of the existing fire throughout the production area," Cline said in the statement, which was forwarded though an OSHA public affairs official.

Cline also said, "It is unknown exactly what caused the initial fire, but there were conditions creating the potential for a fire, including lack of grounding and bonding of metal processing equipment, and use of spark-producing tools."

Robert Hall, lead investigator for the CSB, has previously said that an ignition of metal dust may have been involved in the incident.

Hillary Cohen, a CSB spokeswoman, said the board has contracted with a combustible dust expert and plans to test material from AL Solutions in the near future.

CSB officials have for years been recommending that OSHA adopt a broad rule to protect workers in various industries from the hazards of combustible dust. So far, OSHA has not proposed such a rule.

In its own prepared statement, AL Solutions declined comment on the OSHA citations until other investigations of the incident are completed.

The company has 15 business days from receipt of the citations to comply, ask for an informal conference with OSHA's area director or contest the citations and proposed penalties before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

Reach Ken Ward Jr. at kw...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-1702.