Powers Fasteners, Inc. issued the following statement today, responding to findings and recommendations of the National Transportation Safety Board following its investigation into the cause of the ceiling collapse at the I-90 Connector in Boston in July 2006.

“The events that led to the collapse of the ceiling panels and the death of Melina Del Valle cry out for explanation and accountability. We believe, however, that it would be an absurd conclusion if the federal investigators were to consider Powers Fasteners in any way responsible, since the overwhelming evidence is that the fault lies elsewhere."

Powers supplied $1,287 worth of Power-Fast Standard Set epoxy for the ceiling system of a $15 billion project.

The NTSB finding is premised on the notion that Fast Set epoxy -- as opposed to our slower setting Standard Set product -- was used, but should not have been used for this application.

Here are the facts as they relate to our role in this project:

Powers had no involvement in the design of the ceiling, or the decision as to which epoxy to use.

Powers was asked by its distributor to supply a special order of Standard Set epoxy for use in the tunnel ceiling and that is exactly what we did.

Powers did not know that Fast Set was used for the ceiling in place of the Standard Set epoxy, which we had every reason to believe, was used, based on what we were asked to supply.

These facts are established by contemporaneous documents, all of which were provided to the NTSB, but were not addressed at today’s hearing.

In the Fall of 1999, Powers was called in to inspect several anchors that had been installed but had slipped by approximately 1/2 inch. Powers was operating under the assumption that its Standard Set product was used.

Project officials on the scene agreed with Powers that the problem was caused by faulty installation, since the slippage was so spotty. Powers requested permission to perform ultimate load tests -- the very tests recommended by the NTSB at its hearing today -- but the contractor refused to allow these tests to be performed.

Had the contractor allowed Powers to test these bolts, various flaws in the installation procedure, such as the epoxy "voids" observed by NTSB investigators, would have been revealed before the rest of the ceiling panels were hung.

After this inspection, and well before Project officials decided how to address the problem of bolt slippage, Powers provided complete information on all of the performance limitations of both Power-Fast products -- Fast Set and Standard Set -- including recommended limitations on use of the Fast Set for long-term loads.

Specifically, as found by the NTSB, Powers supplied to Project officials the ICBO evaluation report which stated that the Fast Set was permitted only to be used for “short-term loads.”

This report was received and reviewed by Project officials and the stated limitations were included in the final specifications for the ceiling. Mystifyingly, however, the Project had already gone ahead to install the rest of the ceiling in the interim, and in the end, the specifications were simply ignored by those responsible for construction, who were under pressure to complete the project and not redo anything.

The NTSB found that numerous mistakes were made in the construction of the ceiling, most notably, insufficient epoxy to coat the anchors. In fact, the NTSB found “voids” in 19 of the 20 failed anchors. Clearly, if you don’t put enough adhesive on a rod, it is likely to fail. The NTSB found that this alone reduced the load capacity of the bolts by up to 40 percent.

In addition, it found that plastic caps used for the installation and placed on every bolt reduced the weight-bearing capacity by another 10 percent. In essence, the NTSB concluded today, that for 19 of the 20 failed bolts, the load bearing capacity had been cut in half.

After the ceiling system was completed, no responsible entity -- state or private -- ever bothered to inspect it at any time before the tunnel opened.

We stand by all our products. In fact, in 15 years, Powers’ experience with the Fast Set is that it performs well -- even for overhead loads -- in conditions such as those found in the tunnel. While based on our experience with the product we think the Fast Set would have held properly had it been installed in accordance with Powers’ installation instructions and safety recommendations.

Powers will review and fully evaluate the basis for the NTSB’s conclusions. In the interim, we will revise our literature and packaging to recommend use of Standard Set rather than Fast Set for sustained long term loads. Fast Set can continue to be used for short term loads such as Earthquake or Wind loads. Power Fast Standard Set can be used for these applications and sustained long term loads.