Five wrongful death lawsuits have been filed by the families of the poultry plant employees who died in a nitrogen leak at a Georgia poultry plant. The suits allege negligence by Messer Group, manufacturer of the equipment that was used by Foundation Food Group to flash-freeze the meat at its Gainesville facility.

According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, each suit also accuses a Messer employee of negligence for coming in days before the massive leak to work on associated machinery and leaving without fixing it. The suits allege he also failed to warn workers of the dangers the nitrogen system could pose with the repairs undone.

“The evidence will show that Messer was extremely careless and reckless with its work on this machine,” said attorney Michael Goldberg of Fried Goldberg, representing the family of victim Saulo Suarez-Bernal, 45.

Messer told the paper that the company is cooperating with the investigation into the leak, which occurred on January 28. Meanwhile, the Associated Press reports that investigators have cleared the plant to reopen. The incident is still being investigated by OSHA.

Sources: Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Associated Press via WABE News