OMAHA - Two Omaha business owners were sentenced to prison on Friday for violating worker safety standards before a 2015 explosion that left two of their employees dead.

Brothers Steven and Adam Braithwaite and their company, Nebraska Railcar Cleaning Services, pleaded guilty in July to a litany of federal charges.

Former president of NRCS, Steven Braithwaite, pleaded guilty to two counts of violating a workers safety standard causing a worker death and one county of knowingly endangering others by violating the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. He will serve 30 months in prison and pay $100,000 in restitution.

Adam Braithwaite, vice president of the company, pleaded guilty to two counts of violating a worker safety standard causing death, two counts of falsification of records in a federal investigation, and one count of perjury. He will serve one year and one day in prison in addition to paying $100,000 in resitution as well.

NRCS pleaded guilty to all 21 of the charged counts.

The federal indictment stated that on April 14, 2015, workers were removing petroleum residue from inside a rail tanker car when a spark ignited and caused a deadly explosion.

Petroleum residue, which was known to be in the car, is both highly flammable and contains benzene; a known carcinogen. Despite this information, workers were sent into the car without testing for benzene levels.

In addition, the tanker car had tested positively for explosive gas levels prior to the employees being told to enter. In fact, the test showed that explosive gas levels "greatly exceeded" the acceptable levels established by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

Roughly an hour into the removal process, the contents exploded, killing Adrian LPour, 44, and Dallas Foulk, 40.

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