YOUNGSTOWN — A spokesman for the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration has confirmed the agency has opened two investigations involving the May 28 explosion at Realty Tower.

OSHA joins other agencies looking into the explosion, including the National Transportation Safety Board and the State Fire Marshal’s Office.

According to an email from Scott Allen, OSHA spokesman, one investigation involves JP Morgan Chase Bank.

The bank operated a branch on the first floor of the building. Seven employees were inside the branch at the time of the 2:44 p.m. explosion, which apparently happened in the building’s basement area as a result of workers cutting a natural gas line while conducting maintenance and demolition activities.

Six employees were injured. Akil Drake, 27, was killed.

The second investigation involves Greenheart Companies LLC, according to the email.

Greenheart was the company performing the maintenance and demolition activities at the time of the explosion.

“No further information will be available until OSHA has completed their investigation, which by law,” the agency has six months to complete, Allen wrote.

CHASE AND GREENHEART

Allen also provided the inspection history for JP Morgan Chase and Greenheart.

The information for JP Morgan Chase Bank pertained to locations mostly outside of Ohio. But one was for a Chase location at 1500 W. 3rd Street, Suite 300, Cleveland, where a health review was carried out starting in November 2018. No fines or violations are listed in that matter.

The information provided on Greenheart states there were safety violations at a commercial and institutional building at 1216 W. High Street, New Philadelphia, that resulted in an initial penalty of $24,796 and a current penalty of $13,494 for a case that was opened in November 2019. That matter is closed.

There also were safety violations at a building at 949 N. Hermitage Road, Hermitage, Pa., for a case that was opened in November 2019. It involved an initial penalty of $10,390 and a current penalty of $5,700. There also is a case involving a building at 4170 Steels Point Drive in Stow. That matter involved safety questions and was opened in September 2015. It involved an initial penalty of $2,800 and a current penalty of $1,960.

All three cases involving Greenhart are closed, according to the documents.

The mailing address for Greenheart Companies LLC is 6001 Southern Blvd., Boardman.

NTSB

Thomas Chapman, an NTSB board member, told reporters at a news conference Friday the agency spent much of the day Friday interviewing workers in the basement and vault of the building at the time of the explosion.

Chapman said the crew consisted of a supervisor and five crew members. The supervisor was on site at least twice during the work day, but he was not present at the time of the accident, nor was one of the five crew members.

“The crew was engaged to clear out old piping and other outdated infrastructure and debris from the basement and vault area, which extends underneath the sidewalk adjacent to the building,” Chapman said.

“This was done in anticipation of work to be done as part of a city project that we understand would fill the vault area and replace the sidewalks. The crew was unaware that one of the pipes in the vault was pressurized at the time. Nor did the work crew have reason to believe gas was present in the pipe,” he said.

Chapman said there was no gas smell reported by the crew, indicating there was not an ongoing leak.

“The accident sequence began as the crew made two initial cuts into piping along the basement wall. When a third cut was made, the crew immediately realized that there was a problem and that gas had been released,” Chapman said.

The crew evacuated the basement, alerted bank employees and pulled the fire alarm. At least one of the workers called 911, Chapman said. The explosion happened about six minutes after the pipe was cut, Chapman said.

A final report with the cause of the blast will take one to two years, Chapman said, but a preliminary report is expected in less than a month.