Ohio Construction Company Faces Citations for Excavation Hazards
Slapped with $68,500 in violations, an Ohio company failed to sufficiently protect workers from cave-ins.
A construction company in Ohio faces four citations from OSHA after they exposed employees to excavation hazards. The fines, amounting to $68,500, came after Carter Construction Co. in Loveland failed to supply workers in a 20-foot-deep trench with adequate protection from cave-ins.
The company did not provide sidewall protection in the deep trench, being dug for an underground storm sewer pipe. Two other violations were failing to keep equipment at least two feel from the edge of the trench and not having sufficient entrance and exit points from the trench.
"Carter Construction has a responsibility to ensure that workers are properly protected from known workplace hazards such as trench cave-ins, a leading cause of death and injury in excavation work," said Bill Wilkerson, OSHA's area director in Cincinnati, in a statement on the OSHA website. "OSHA is committed to protecting workers, especially when employers fail to do so."
Carter Construction has 15 days to pay the fines or contest the violations before the independent Occupational Safety and Review Committee.