Kentucky OSHA officials are now investigating the deaths and injuries at a candle factory demolished in a tornado outbreak with employees inside. 

"I was just praying that God would take me cause I didn't want to endure pain anymore," survivor Jim Douglas said.

Eight workers died. 

Newsy has learned this is not the first time workplace safety has been a concern at that factory, Mayfield Consumer Products. 

OSHA records we reviewed show the plant was cited in 2019 for 12 safety violations, some labeled serious. Two of them relate to emergency preparedness. 

The records don't go into specifics, but one citation references Kentucky law 2.310(1)(1), which requires that job sites have "persons adequately trained to render first aid"… and that "adequate first aid supplies shall be readily available."

A second violation points to an OSHA standard that says "safeguards designed to protect employees during an emergency … must be in proper working order at all times."

Other citations were for electrical safety concerns. 

The company settled all of the violations with the state by paying a fine of $9,810 and agreeing to certify compliance with OSHA safety rules by January 13th.   

A spokeswoman for the Kentucky Labor Department says the company did have an emergency action plan in place and that employees had been trained on the emergency action plan. 

A Mayfield Consumer Products spokesman responded to Newsy's questions with an emailed statement saying, "We implemented an updated safety plan and operated a safe factory."

The company's CEO said, "We're in unprecedented waters – this is something we don't... or could have ever expected."

Kentucky OSHA will now spend up to six months investigating whether conditions at the factory contributed to the tragedy. 

Disaster expert Dianna Bryant says building design should be part of the review. 

"When we see more of these larger types of industrial facilities that are not constructed the way they used to be, they are not as substantial, this seems to be a trend that would continue," she said. 

OSHA is also now investigating an Amazon warehouse in Edwardsville, Illinois where six employees died. Records show no recent safety violations there. 

This story was originally published by Patrick Terpstra at Newsy.com.

Last weekend's tornadoes in the south and Midwest are believed to be the deadliest on record for December. So far, about 90 people are confirmed to have been killed in western Kentucky, Arkansas, Illinois, Missouri and Tennessee.

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said Thursday that 16 people in his state are still missing following the storms.

Forecasters say there was an indication of a possible significant weather event days ahead of the storm — but they had no idea the storms would be so violent.

"As we got closer to the event, it became the upper-level pattern is matching up well, the temperatures have stayed extremely warm at the ground, and nothing's happened to cool that off," said Harold Brooks, a scientist with NOAA's National Weather Service Storm Lab.

Brooks says large outbreaks of violent tornadoes are not uncommon in December, nor are large upper-level systems.

But one rare factor that led to last week's extreme weather event was the large area of warm, moist air on the ground. The region had been experiencing record warm temperatures, and there have been no recent cold fronts to cool down the Gulf of Mexico.

"The Gulf temperatures look like they should look a couple of months ago, and so they're very high," Brooks said. "That means when air comes out of the south, it's bringing up a lot of warm, moist air, which is the fuel for the thunderstorms. So, that's the key thing — that warm, moist air fuels what's under first, and then the strong, upper-level system brings in the winds, which are necessary to make those storms rotate and be potential tornadoes."

Warmer temperatures are one ingredient for tornadoes that can be attributed to climate change. But Brooks says it's hard to make a direct link to climate change because tornadoes mostly depend on the wind.

"The fact that that may actually decrease in the future makes the climate connection a lot harder in tornadoes than it does in a lot of other things," Brooks said. "It's not as straightforward is as temperature records or heavy rainfall, which both are really pretty directly related to the planet warming."

As scientists continue to study last week's tornado outbreak, Brooks made one message clear — people need to pay attention to potential weather events before they happen, so families can make potentially life-saving plans.