OSHA fines three contractors at U.S. Marine Corps base nearly $190,000 for crane and trenching violations

OSHA cited Piedmont Mechanical Inc., Jim Boyd Construction Inc. and Chevron Energy Solutions Inc. for safety hazards after a worker received burns from an electrical shock during the installation of a new landfill gas processing and compression facility at the U.S. Marine Corps Logistic Base in Albany, Ga. OSHA cited the contractors for a total of 11 safety violations and fined them $189,700 following an inspection begun in March after the incident, in which the boom tip of a crane contacted an overhead power line with a carrying capacity of more than 12,000 volts. Electricity traveled down the crane through a line that was connected to the load being moved by the crane and shocked the employee on the ground, who was holding the line. OSHA cited all three companies for safety violations involving trenching and excavation at the site.

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Contractor fined more than $350,000 after repeatedly exposing workers to trenching cave-in hazards

OSHA fined contractor P. Gioioso & Sons Inc. $354,000 after exposing its workers to cave-in hazards at Massachusetts work sites in Cambridge and Framingham. The company, which is primarily engaged in the construction of underground water and sewer mains, has a long history of violating workplace safety standards. Since 2000, Gioioso was cited seven times for repeat violations of OSHA's trenching and excavation safety standards prior to these most recent citations. The Cambridge inspection was opened when an OSHA inspector observed a Gioioso employee working in an unprotected trench. During the inspection, a section of the trench wall collapsed while the employee was still in the trench. The second inspection began after a concerned passer-by informed OSHA of workers in an unguarded trench. In both cases, OSHA found that the trenches lacked cave-in protection and a ladder or other safe means for workers to exit the trenches.

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Excavation company fined more than $150,000 after one worker is killed and another injured in trench cave-in

OSHA fined Bontrager Excavating LTD in Uniontown, Ohio, $157,710 and cited the company for two alleged willful, two serious and one repeat safety violation
for failing to protect workers from cave-ins during trenching operations. An inspection was initiated after one worker was killed and another injured in a trench collapse.

OSHA inspectors found that Bontrager showed plain indifference to worker safety and disregard for the law's requirements by willfully exposing its employees to trenching and excavation hazards in trenches that were not adequately protected to prevent cave-ins. During the installation of sewer lines in a residential neighborhood, a trench wall collapse resulted in the death of a foreman and injury to another worker. OSHA issued Bontrager a repeat violation for failing to provide a safe means of exit to employees working inside a trench. The company was cited for the same violation in 2007. In addition, inspectors found that the company had exposed workers to the risk of death or serious physical harm by failing to safely determine the location of underground utilities and to ensure a trench shield system was no more than 2 feet off the bottom of a trench floor.

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OSHA intervenes in time to protect workers from trench collapse

OSHA Compliance Officer Eliseo Hernandez and Assistant Area Director Joseph Roesler were on their way to an inspection near Auburn, Ala., when they noticed an open excavation where workers were not protected from cave-ins. The excavation was approximately 5 and 1/2 feet deep where two employees were working under an excavator bucket connecting a water line. Just after Hernandez removed the employees from the hazard, the wall of the excavation collapsed. This incident demonstrates the importance of OSHA's Trenching and Excavation National Emphasis Program.


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