Workers at West Fertilizer Co. were not injured by the hugeblast at the plant that killed 15 people and devastated a wideswath of a small Texas town, but the explosion did bring to thefore an emerging Workers Compensation issue of deep concern to theinsurance industry.

The only West Fertilizer employee involved was a first responderkilled in the blast who was covered by a workers compensation fundthat covers all employees of the state's 2,700 municipalities,according to Carol A. Loughlin, executive director of the TexasMunicipal League Intergovernmental Risk Pool, based in Austin.

The city employees of West, Texas, and the 11 first responderswho were killed, were covered under the state plan's Large LossFund, she said. "It won't deplete our fund; we can handle it,"Loughlin says.