Now and then, reminders appear that failure to comply with OSHA safety regulations can have serious consequences.
Of course, the real reason to follow safety regulations is to help prevent serious injuries to your people and all the hardship that befalls injured workers and their families. The risk of OSHA citations and fines is just another reason to be vigilant.
Illustrating the importance of protecting employees and complying with OSHA standards are the following stories where OSHA fined two underground utility contractors for violations related to excavation hazards in just one 30-day period.
These stories document that if one of your people is severely injured on one of your work sites, OSHA will investigate and, if warranted, cite and fine your company. Here are the facts as set down in two OSHA news releases:
WILLFUL CITATIONS
In the first case, OSHA levied fines totaling $95,000 against a utility installation company in Little Rock, Ark., for alleged failure to protect employees from trenching and excavation hazards. The fines followed investigation of an accident a few months earlier.
The contractor, Building & Utility Contractors of Redfield, Ark., an installer of water, sewer and utility lines, was cited for alleged serious, willful and other violations of safety standards. OSHA inspected a company's work site in Little Rock after an employee was seriously injured when a track hoe ran over his legs. One leg was amputated. Two weeks later, while in the hospital, the worker died of a heart attack. OSHA issued three willful citations for:
- Failing to ensure that adequate precautions were taken to remove
accumulated water from the excavation.
- Failing to ensure that a competent person with knowledge of excavation
hazards was present at the work site.
- Failing to ensure that workers were properly protected from
cave-ins.
OSHA issues a willful citation when there is evidence of an intentional violation of standards or plain indifference to requirements.
Two alleged serious violations involved failure to properly train and protect workers from excavation hazards and failure to provide adequate egress. A serious citation is issued when there is substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result from a hazard about which the employer knew or should have known.
Two other citations were issued for failing to report an employee accident and failing to ensure that employees were properly trained on hazardous materials.
FAILURE TO PROTECT
In the second case OSHA fined a Pasadena, Texas, construction company $52,000, again for alleged failure to protect employees from trenching and excavation hazards. Ramos Industries, an underground utilities installer with 300 employees, was cited for alleged serious and repeat safety violations after an OSHA inspection that began at a construction site in Corpus Christi where investigators saw several unsafe conditions.
Citations for alleged serious violations were issued for:
- Exposing workers to vehicular traffic.
- Improper trench box installations.
- Exposing workers to a possible cave-in when entering and exiting the trench box.
- Failure to place the trench box on the ground.
The two alleged repeat violations involved failure to provide employees with a safe means of access and egress from the trench, such as by providing a ladder or ramp. A repeat violation is one that had been previously cited.
The lesson to be learned: If your business includes trenching, confined-space work, handling of hazardous materials, or any other activity covered by OSHA regulations, take the necessary steps to get into compliance and protect your people. EQ