Construction at Tennessee Plant Halted After Deaths

Construction on the new Wacker Polysilicon plant in Charleston, Tenn., has been halted indefinitely while investigators try to determine what caused two workers to fall to their deaths.

The workers fell about 140 feet after a work platform failed late Wednesday night. There were no other injuries.

William Toth, director of corporate communications at Wacker, told the Chattanooga Times Free Press that the 1,200 subcontractors could return to work in days or months, depending on what Wacker and the state Department of Labor finds while investigating the circumstances surrounding the deaths.

Bradley County Sheriff’s spokesman Bob Gault said a detective who responded to the scene determined it was an accident.