A federal agency says the June 2023 death of a 63-year-old construction worker at a jobsite in Brockton, Massachusetts, could have been prevented had the contractor followed safety regulations.
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has proposed penalties of $142,642 for LMA Services Company LLC of Stoughton for exposing employees to struck-by and caught between hazards as they worked near a skid steer doing excavation work for a new structure at Brockton Hospital.
A second citation was issued for failure to provide the requested OSHA logs within the required time.
According to reports of the incident, at 12:06 p.m. June 13, Brockton Police received a 911 call for a report of a male employee who was trapped underneath a Bobcat skid-steer loader at a construction site at Signature Healthcare Brockton Hospital.
Upon arrival, emergency workers found Roger Porter, an employee of LMA Services from East Sandwich, in an 8-foot-deep foundation trench trapped beneath the loader, which had fallen onto him.
Porter and the operator of the skid steer were leveling out the gravel in the trench when the incident occurred.
Authorities said extricating Porter from the scene was labor-intensive for the first responders. Upon removal, he was pronounced dead at the scene.
Work at Signature Healthcare’s Brockton Hospital had been ongoing ever since the facility was closed for repairs after a fire in February 2023.
OSHA investigators found that the loader’s bucket was elevated and being used to load and unload crushed stone on sloped and uneven ground. The skid steer was moving backward up an incline while Porter was working beneath it in the trench.
During the operation, Porter was killed after being struck by the loader and pinned between the ground and the bucket.
“LMA Services Company’s safety failures led to the loss of a worker’s life, a tragedy that could have been prevented if proper procedures were followed,” said OSHA Area Director James Mulligan in Braintree, Massachusetts. “Federal law requires employers to identify hazards that can cause harm and make corrections to ensure workers’ safety and health.”
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports 484 fatalities caused by being struck by an object or equipment in the workplace in 2022. Approximately 75 percent of struck-by fatalities involve heavy equipment such as trucks or cranes.
LMA Services is being cited for failing to furnish employment and a place of employment that was free from recognized hazards that were causing or likely to cause death or serious physical harm. to employees in that employees were exposed to being struck by and caught between hazards while working in the vicinity of a loader.
Among other methods, the federal investigators determined that one method of feasible abatement would be to train employees to follow the manufacturer's safety warnings in the Equipment Operator Manual for the equipment in use and be aware of hazards in the work area.
Additionally, the establishment of a site-specific safety plan to identify potential hazards, establish work rules, and enforce work rules to ensure the safety of anyone involved with the project, including but not limited to a Job Hazard Analysis (JHA) for:
- Working in the vicinity of a skid-steer loader and/or any other heavy equipment for construction work.
- Operating equipment per the manufacturer's operation manual.
- Ensuring the site is prepared for safe operations of skid-steer loaders and/or any other heavy equipment.
Further, after OSHA served subpoenas for documents and for managers to testify, LMA Services delayed providing injury and illness records, which employers are required to provide within four hours of OSHA’s request.
The company has contested the citations and proposed penalties.
