Region 10 News Release:   #02-49
March 6, 2002
Contact: Jeannine Lupton
Phone: 206-553-7620

SEATTLE - A company's failure to protect workers from a variety of hazards, including safety-related errors at a Malad, Idaho, job site that resulted in a double fatality, has led to proposed citations and fines by the U.S. Labor Department's Occupational Safety and Health Administration against Multiple Concrete Enterprises, Inc., of Ogden, Utah.

OSHA issued citations to the company for alleged willful, serious and other-than-serious safety and health violations after the fatalities occurred last August. The company was issued $100,100 in proposed penalties for the alleged safety and health violations at the job site on Interstate 15 from Malad, Idaho, to the Utah state line.

The fatal accident occurred when a Multiple Concrete Enterprises, Inc., employee driving a company-owned truck with a trailer attached, drove on the freeway alongside the lane where employees were working and the trailer detached from the truck, running over or hitting several employees.

"Workers were exposed to a variety of serious hazards at the job site, ranging from working within two feet of high speed traffic to exposure to high levels of dust containing crystalline silica," said Ryan Kuehmichel, area director for the agency's Boise office, which conducted the investigation.

The willful citation noted that respirators were worn under conditions that impaired the sealing surface of the facepiece and the valve function.

The serious citation also included several alleged violations regarding respirators and other safety and health violations that may have contributed to the double fatality at the Idaho job site.

According to Kuehmichel, the company has 15 working days to contest the citations.

Editor's Note: A willful violation is defined by OSHA as one committed with an intentional disregard of, or plain indifference to, the requirements of the Occupational Safety and Health Act and regulations.

A serious violation is one in which there is substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result, and the employer knew or should have known of the hazard.

The inspection was conducted by the Boise OSHA area office. The telephone number is 208-321-2960.