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A grand jury in New Hampshire has handed up indictments of the former owner of a gunpowder manufacturing plant in the deaths of two workers.

Craig Sanborn faces manslaughter and negligent homicide charges for the deaths of two employees killed in a May 14, 2010, explosion at his Black Mag plant in Colebrook, NH.

Jesse Kennett, 49, and Donald Kendall, 56, were killed and a third employee was severely injured in the explosion.

The workers had been required to hand feed powder into operating equipment.

OSHA issued $1.2 million in fines for 54 violations to Black Mag. The company settled the citations by agreeing never again to employ people to work with explosives. Black Mag certified that it ended all production when its facility was destroyed by the explosion. Violating the settlement agreement could lead to prison time for Sanborn.

Among the fines issued to the company: four egregious citations for failure to train each of the four workers involved in the manufacture of gun powder. The fourth worker wasn’t at the plant at the time of the explosion.

Is this the type of case involving workplace fatalities in which company officials should face criminal charges? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

Tags: failure to train workers, gun powder plant explosion, manslaughter charges, negligent homicide