Rep. Behn to Refile the Workers’ Right to Live
October 10, 2026, 3:19 p.m.
Year After AES Explosion Killed 16 Workers, Rep. Behn Will
Refile the Workers’ Right to Live Act
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| State Representative Aftyn Behn |
NASHVILLE TN - Today, State Representative Aftyn Behn marks one year since the deadliest of those tragedies, the explosion at Accurate Energetic Systems that killed 16 workers on the Hickman-Humphreys county line. She announced she will refile the Workers’ Right to Live Act in the 2027 legislative session.
In 2024, 155 Tennesseans went to work and never came home, nearly 500 over the last three years. AES shows why. TOSHA cited the company in 2019, and AES fought it until 2023. After the blast, TOSHA issued 100 violations, 59 of them willful, and a record $3.1 million fine, a formula that doesn’t count the dead and works out to less than $200,000 per life. Meanwhile, state law caps death benefits for grieving families, and companies can collect millions in taxpayer incentives, get workers killed, and keep every cent.
Rep. Behn:
In Tennessee, it is cheaper to let a worker die than to keep them safe. The corporation pays a fine, takes its tax breaks, and reopens. Meanwhile, the families are given a $50 gift card and a t-shirt?!?! It’s a reprehensible business model that the Tennessee legislature continues to sanction, and the laws have to change. Not only do these families deserve answers, but they deserve a future where a tragedy like the AES explosion never happens again. |
The Workers’ Right to Live Act would lift the cap on death benefits, require every workplace death to be reported within 24 hours, and mandate a state investigation within five business days with public findings within 90. Employers found negligent would pay at least $250,000 per death into a Worker Protection Fund and repay three years of state incentives. A pattern of deadly negligence would bar a company from incentives for five years. The bill also protects whistleblowers who report unsafe conditions.
