From investigators' interviews with warehouse workers, a picture emerges of the EQ Industrial Services hazardous waste storage depot as a business that relied on temporary workers to help handle the large volumes of waste arriving by the truckload.

In the interviews, one worker said that some of his co-workers couldn't read the labels on containers of waste and that he had no safety training. Others said many hazardous waste mishaps went unreported before the warehouse exploded in October.

The interviews were part of the investigation into the fire that led to a nine-page compliance order Tuesday. In the order, state officials said EQ should be barred from reopening in Apex and should pay a $553,225 fine.

"I think our permit termination notice speaks to the state's position on their hazardous waste operations," said Liz Cannon, chief of the state's hazardous waste section.

EQ, which has headquarters in Michigan, has 30 days to contest the fine and 45 days to appeal the state's proposal to cancel is operating permit, state officials said.

The company has not responded to the order.

"They are still reviewing the document and doing their own internal investigation into some of the things," said Sean Graham, a public relations executive speaking for EQ on Thursday. "That will determine their response. There were allegations made in that document that they were unaware of."

In interviews, Rob Johnston, a former quality assurance chemist at EQ, told investigators that he left in June 2006 because of disagreements with management about training and staffing to handle the waste being shipped to EQ.

Johnston, now a supervisor at another waste handler, said a lot of the waste shipped to EQ was poorly packaged with cracked or leaking drums. He referred to "a revolving door" of workers who would stay for a short time, receive training and just not return.

Cannon said that inadequate staffing and training might have contributed to the violations that state investigators cited. But Cannon said the company's training records were up-to-date at the time of the explosion.

"The regulations and permits for all hazardous waste facilities require them to have adequate staffing to conduct operations, maintain equipment," Cannon said. "It's a general requirement in the regulations. There are also training requirements."

Cannon said it was fairly common for such facilities to use temporary workers.

"It's a way they bring people in, screen them for their performance and bring them on," Cannon said.

Speedy orientation

Kenneth Dunn, who had been a temporary worker at EQ for two months, told investigators that he received a walk-through with his supervisor about how to separate the wastes but never had any safety training. He was one of five or six temporary workers assigned to a plant area that handled wastes from Wal-Mart such as fingernail polish, hair care products and latex paints. Investigators do not think the fire started in this area.

Dunn said some of his co-workers who were separating waste had difficulty reading and could not understand the big words on the shipping labels.

Because the wastes in this area were classified as nonhazardous, the workers did not have to have hazardous waste training.

Call for tighter rules

Officials with the Division of Waste Management declined to comment on whether investigators were recommending any criminal charges.

"As a general matter, yes, we have that ability, but with respect to specific cases, it is our policy to neither confirm nor deny questions regarding criminal referrals," said Cathy Akroyd, a spokeswoman for the division.

Because of the EQ explosion, the Easley administration is asking the legislature to tighten regulations of transfer, storage and disposal of hazardous waste.

North Carolina has 10 commercial hazardous waste storage warehouses that receive truckloads of spent chemicals from manufacturers and laboratories, consolidate them and ship them to incinerators, landfills and recyclers in other states.