DHC Contracting Knowingly Put Workers at Risk of Trench Collapse Hazards
An OSHA inspection resulted in proposed penalties of $57,900
An OSHA inspection of DHC Contracting resulted in one willful citation for allowing employees to work in an excavation without cave-in protection, as well as three serious citations for failing to provide a safe entrance and exit from the trench, not requiring employees to wear head protection while working in a trench where falling objects could result in injury and allowing employees to use a chop saw to cut concrete without wearing proper eye protection.
"James Marlowe was at the work site watching his employees work in an unprotected excavation and recognized the hazardous condition that existed, but didn't take action to protect them from being engulfed and crushed by a wall collapse," said Robert Vazzi, OSHA's area director in Savannah. "For an employer to knowingly disregard the lives of their workers is unconscionable."
The citations amount to $57,900 in proposed penalties. The inspection was part of the agency’s National Emphasis Program on Trenching and Excavation.