An Oklahoma contractor faces proposed penalties of $82,149 following the death of a project manager in a trench collapse, according to the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
The project manager and other workers were in a 10-foot-deep excavation May 18 in McAlester placing gravel around a newly replaced 24-inch sewer line, OSHA reports. The trench had standing water in the bottom of it.
OSHA says the contractor, Rocking L Dozer and Land Management LLC of Caney, could have prevented the fatal cave-in. The agency issued one willful and four serious violations:
(A willful violation is when the employer either knowingly failed to comply with a legal requirement or acted with indifference to employee safety. A serious violation exists when the workplace hazard could cause an accident or illness that would most likely result in death or serious physical harm, unless the employer did not know or could not have known of the violation.)
- Failure to provide cave-in protection, willful violation, $62,504 proposed penalty.
- Failure to conduct daily inspections of the trench before workers entered, serious, $6,250.
- Failure to protect workers from dangers posed by water accumulated in the trench, serious, $4,465.
- Failure to provide safe way to exit the trench, serious, $4,465.
- Failure to remove surface encumbrances near the edge of the trench that posed a struck-by hazard, serious, $4,465.
“A worker has lost their life because Rocking L Dozer and Land Management disregarded its responsibility to ensure the safety of its employees,” said OSHA Area Director Steven Kirby in Oklahoma City. “Employers are required by law to follow safety and health procedures that are put in place to prevent tragedies like this from occurring. OSHA is available to assist employers with complying with agency standards.”
Rocking L can appeal the violations and penalties within 15 business days.
According to OSHA online records, the company was cited for workers not wearing hard hats while working in an excavation in March in Marble City. The company was issued a penalty of $501 on July 19.
Rocking L has been in operation for three years and provides pond building, land clearing and other land management and construction services.
OSHA
