Facing lawsuits from 20 workers, BGE and contractors blame each other in explosion

For the workers who lived through it, reminders of the December 2020 natural gas explosion at BGE’s downtown office building are everywhere.

Michael Jones feels a twinge in his shoulder when he reaches for a coffee cup in the morning.

Sean Rhine wakes up each day feeling stiff and achy for the first time in his life.

Santos H. Pineda Hernandez sees the long scar snaking down his left arm and remembers unbearable pain.

The explosion happened when the building was mostly empty. It was two days before Christmas and faded from the news quickly amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The blast was triggered by a welding torch being used by one of the construction crews doing work on the BGE building’s 16th floor.

Nearly four years later, as the construction workers who were on the job that day still deal with their injuries, BGE and the contractors that handled renovations are pointing fingers as they face eight lawsuits over the explosion.

“We’ve been dealt this hand,” said Jones, speaking from his home in Virginia. “Everybody has swallowed the pills.”

The companies filed more than two dozen counterclaims against each other in the lawsuits. Such a liability fight is common in this kind of litigation, but it bogs down the process for injured workers seeking damages.

BGE’s Chicago-based parent company, Exelon, declined in a statement to comment on details of the lawsuits.

“In general, however, our investigation into this matter concludes that BGE and Exelon are not responsible for the December 23, 2020 incident at BGE’s headquarters in downtown Baltimore,” the company said. “As per our public filings, we, too, are actively pursuing recovery from those at fault for our damages incurred from this incident, along with a determination of our contractor’s and its subcontractors’ respective responsibility.”

The contractor, Rand Construction Corp., and its subcontractors, Poole & Kent Corp. and Aegis Mechanical Corp., did not respond to requests for comment. BGE recently sued Rand in federal court in an effort to force the company to assume liability for the explosion.

The lawsuits provide insight into the explosion’s cause, something that hasn’t been publicly explained despite the dramatic circumstances of the blast that shook downtown. Twenty-one workers were hurt and two window washers briefly dangled on damaged scaffolding suspended near the 10th and 11th floors.

Immediately after the explosion, a BGE spokeswoman said natural gas to the building had been cut off previously because of the construction. But subsequent investigations found natural gas was flowing through the building’s internal gas system and leaked onto the penthouse floor.

The flanges for two boilers on that floor were not properly tightened following a pressure test in November 2020, BGE wrote in its lawsuit against Rand.

The natural gas ignited when a worker tried to use a welding torch on the morning of Dec. 23, 2020, according to the lawsuits.

BGE’s lawsuit says investigations into the explosion found that Rand, Aegis, and Poole & Kent failed to prevent the natural gas leak. In court filings, those companies argue that they should not be held liable and blame each other for various problems at the worksite.

In a complaint filed against BGE, for example, Poole & Kent claims the company refused to allow it access to the building after the explosion and destroyed relevant documents. BGE accused Poole & Kent of failing to preserve evidence in another cross-claim.

The workers’ lawsuits lay out the terrible consequences of the explosion for the people who were hurt.

Pineda Hernandez was working on the roof when the blast threw him into the air, he said. He landed hard on metal beams below and badly broke his left arm. He immediately knew he would never be the same.

“It was an unsupportable pain,” said Pineda Hernandez, speaking through his lawyer, MaryKay Canarte, who translated from Spanish. He also is represented by attorney Kenneth Berman.

Originally from Guatemala, the 30-year-old lives in Lanham with his uncle and cousins.

Pineda Hernandez tried to help a fellow worker on the roof who had blood coming out of his mouth after the explosion, but said he was too injured to move the man. Emergency medical personnel arrived 10 minutes later and took both men to hospitals.

Another man who was working on a scaffold, like Pineda Hernandez, also was thrown by the explosion, according to his lawsuit. That worker, who didn’t respond to a request for an interview, suffered a traumatic brain injury; fractures to his pelvis, right shoulder and spine; a liver laceration; a shattered kidney; and some loss of vision in both eyes, his lawyer wrote.

Jones was joining conduit on a 10-foot ladder when the explosion sent him flying.

“All of a sudden, you’re airborne,” he recalled.

Another man who had been working on a taller ladder nearby was on fire when he landed next to Jones.

Jones, 64, landed on some pipes and tore the rotator cuff in his right shoulder. He needs surgery to repair his shoulder and back, which still bother him, but he doesn’t want to risk it at his age. To this day, Jones can’t hold up a drill. His tools are in storage in Fredericksburg, Virginia, where he moved into his son’s basement instead of fixing up a duplex in North Baltimore as he always planned.

He wants to work, but his injuries make it difficult. He recently tried to change a tire and still was feeling it two days later. The pain makes it hard to move on from the explosion, he said.

“I know my limitations, but still, you catch yourself reaching for coffee and … ” Jones grimaced, reaching for his shoulder. “You’re forced to relive it now.”

Rhine was working on the same ventilation shaft as Jones when the explosion struck. He thought some machinery had crashed through a wall, because suddenly the entire wall hit him.

He suffered compression fractures in his spine and his femur. He tried to go back to work after the accident, but his body doesn’t work the way it used to. Now he’s transitioned to running a service department, though he struggles with computer skills.

“I don’t have a high school diploma. I never used a computer,” he said. “But luckily, I applied and applied and applied and talked to companies and one company took a chance on me.”

The three men spoke about their experiences at the office of Miller Stern Lawyers LLC. Attorneys Kevin Stern and Daniel Miller are representing Rhine and Jones in their lawsuit, which names a total of nine workers as plaintiffs. In all, 20 injured workers have sued BGE and the contractors.

The physical and psychological effects of the explosion will linger for a long time, the workers said. Rhine still wakes up with a start in the middle of the night, said his wife, Jennifer Rhine. He used to clamber over roofs, but now he’s more hesitant. The blast aged him at least 10 years, she said.

Pineda Hernandez was out of work almost a year after the explosion and still can’t function the way he used to. He can lift only 15 pounds with his left arm now, while he used to carry cement blocks and big buckets of paint. He played soccer before the accident, a pastime he can no longer enjoy.

“I’m not the same person,” he said.