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U.S. Department of Labor | |
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| Occupational Safety & Health Administration | ||||||
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OSHA News Release
2003 - 03/26/2003 - Butte Construction Company issued $52,500 in proposed penalties for safety violations |
OSHA News Release - Table of Contents |
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Region 8 News Release: OSHA 03-14 Wednesday, March 26, 2003 Contact: Rich Kulczewski Phone: (303) 844-1302 Butte Construction Company issued $52,500 in proposed penalties for safety violations
BUTTE, Mont. -- The failure of a Montana employer to protect employees on a construction site from the hazards of working around heavy equipment, has resulted in $52,500 in proposed penalties issued against Jim Gilman Excavating, Inc., Butte, following a fatal accident in September. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration's Billings area office issued one willful, and one serious violation following an investigation that began on Sept. 16. An accident at a road construction site near Butte took the life of an employee when he was crushed to death beneath the wheels of a road grader. Gilman Excavating was cited for one willful violation for allowing employees to ride on the ripper attachment and the cab access steps while the machine was in motion. A $49,000 fine is proposed for this violation. OSHA also found one serious violation for failure to instruct employees in the recognition and avoidance of unsafe conditions and assessed penalties of $3,500 for that violation. "In this case the employer was well aware of the hazards associated with the practice of allowing employees to ride the ripper and the step while the grader was moving," said David DiTommaso, OSHA area director in Billings. OSHA investigators found that employees commonly walk beside the grader to uncover "blue tops" or grade markers, buried by gravel displaced during the grading process. Those employees must then get to the beginning of the next strip, sometimes a distance of several hundred yards, to repeat the process. "Riding on the road grader at any position, other than the operator's station, is illegal and dangerous," added DiTommaso. "This tragic accident and the unsafe conditions discovered during the inspection could have been avoided by adherence to recognized safe work practices and OSHA regulations." Willful violations are those committed with an intentional disregard of, or plain indifference to, the requirements of the Occupational Safety and Health Act. A serious violation is one where there is substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result, and the employer knew or should have known of the hazard. Gilman has contested the citations and proposed penalties before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission. ###
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OSHA News Release - Table of Contents |
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