Death of truck driver leads to $75,000 in penalties
July 1, 1999 2 minutes read
Death of truck driver leads to $75,000 in penalties
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has cited Atlantic Coast Construction of East Greenwich, RI, for alleged serious and willful workplace safety violations as the result of the agency’s investigation of an accident at a construction site in North Kingstown, RI, which took the life of a truck driver in March. OSHA is proposing penalties totaling $75,000 for the alleged violations.
According to Kipp Hartmann, OSHA area director for Rhode Island, on March 8, 1999, his office began an investigation at a construction site on Glen Hill Drive in North Kingstown, RI, where an employee of Fiore Concrete had been delivering concrete products to an Atlantic Coast job site when the crane attached to the boom-truck he was driving struck a power line and he was electrocuted.
"Atlantic Coast Construction was the general contractor on this site and, as such, had the responsibility to ensure that the job site was safe for its own employees as well as for any other workers coming onto the site for any reason," Hartmann says. "Employers in the construction industry are well aware of their responsibilities in this area, and this employer is no exception. Quite simply, this was a tragic accident that could have been avoided had this employer taken basic precautions to ensure worker safety on this job site."
He noted that the company is being cited for the following alleged safety violations:
-One alleged willful violation including a proposed penalty of $70,000 for allowing the setup and operation of a truck and trailer with a crane within 10 feet of overhead energized power lines.
The lines had not been de-energized and visibly grounded, nor had insulating barriers been erected to prevent physical contact with the lines. (The maximum allowable penalty for an alleged willful violation is $70,000.)
-One alleged serious violation carrying a proposed penalty of $5,000 for failing to adequately train employees in the recognition and avoidance of unsafe conditions in the work environment and in the regulations applicable to the hazards which may be encountered during the operation of cranes in the area of energized power lines.
The company has 15 working days from receipt of the citations and proposed penalties to either elect to comply with them, request and participate in an informal conference with the OSHA area director, or contest them before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.
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