Halliburton Energy Services v. State, Department of Labor

OPINION

BRYNER, Justice.

I. INTRODUCTION

A worker assembling a perforation gun at the Halliburton Energy Services plant in Kenai, Alaska, accidentally triggered a fatal explosion. The Alaska Department of Labor fined Halliburton for violating process safety management standards, finding these standards applicable because assembling perforation guns qualifies as manufacturing explosives. But the superior court reversed, ruling that the department could only en-foree the safety standards prospectively, since their application to perforation gun assembly had previously been uncertain.

On appeal,…