OSHA Drive-by Results in $60,000 Fine for Construction Firm

[Omaha Steve]

http://ohsonline.com/articles/2009/04/16/osha-drive-by-results-in-fine-for-construction-firm.aspx

Apr 16, 2009

OSHA has proposed $60,000 in fines against G. Lopes Construction Inc. for allegedly failing to provide cave-in protection for employees working in a 6-foot, 3-inch-deep excavation located at a site in Taunton, Mass. Agency inspectors driving by the site on Oct. 28, 2008, stopped and opened the inspection after they observed company workers installing a drain line in the excavation. They found the excavation's sidewalls were insufficiently shored to prevent their collapse and lack of a ladder or other safe means of exit.

"These citations highlight one of the most dangerous hazards in construction work," said Brenda Gordon, OSHA's area director for Boston and southeastern Massachusetts. "An unguarded excavation can collapse in seconds, crushing and burying workers beneath soil and debris before they have a chance to react or escape."

As a result of the inspection, OSHA issued the company one willful citation, with a proposed $56,000 fine, for the lack of cave-in protection and one serious citation, with a $4,000 proposed fine, for the absence of a ladder. OSHA defines a willful violation as one committed with plain indifference to or intentional disregard for employee safety and health, while a serious citation is issued when death or serious physical harm is likely to result from hazards about which the employer knew or should have known.

"As the construction season gets underway, I'm calling upon employers in southeastern Massachusetts to review their excavation safety procedures to ensure that no worker enters an excavation unless and until it is properly protected against

FULL story at link.

[No More Bushbots]

1. I knew a person who had his legs crushed in a excavation cave in

Because the owner of the company was too cheap to excavate properly. After he paid his OSHA fine, karma saw fit to kill him in another excavation cave in because he refused to change his ways.
He was another one of those nutbags that was against government regulation.

[4_TN_TITANS]

2. The return of regulation....

what is regulation?