OSHA fines contractor $331K in electrocution
Butler County firm faulted in April death
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Issuing one of the largest penalties in Pennsylvania in recent years, federal workplace safety officials levied a $331,101 fine against a Butler County utility contractor after an employee was electrocuted and two others were hospitalized by electrical shocks in April while working at a job site in Johnstown.
The fine, announced late last week by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, was the third-largest initial penalty issued for violations at Pennsylvania work sites in the last three years, according to OSHA’s records.
“Electrocution is one of the leading causes of death in the construction industry,” Christopher Robinson, director of the Pittsburgh-area OSHA office, said in a press release. “Complying with OSHA safety and health standards is not optional. Employers are required to take necessary precautions to prevent tragedies such as this.”
On April 12, a crew employed by Harmony-based Insight Pipe Contracting was working on a sewer project in Johnstown when a forklift hit power lines in the area, Cambria County Coroner Jeff Lees was quoted as saying in local news reports.
After investigating the fatality, OSHA cited the company for, among other things, failing to develop procedures for working in a confined space, failing to train employees on confined space hazards and failing to conduct proper testing before allowing entry into a sewer line.
OSHA also placed the company in its Severe Violator Enforcement Program — an initiative that focuses resources on inspecting employers “who have demonstrated indifference to their (Occupational Safety and Health) Act obligations by committing willful, repeated or failure-to-abate violations,” according to the agency’s description of the program.
An initial penalty can be appealed by an employer within 15 days and is often negotiated to a lesser amount.
On Monday, a representative with Insight Pipe Contracting declined to comment.
In November 2016, OSHA announced a fine of $307,284 for A&W Roofing, based near Cleveland, for failing to provide proper fall protection at a Pittsburgh work site — the fifth time in two years that company had been penalized for those violations.
In October 2017, OSHA fined Pittsburgh-based Ski Masonry $201,354 after an employee doing masonry work on a Shadyside building was electrocuted by an overhead electrical line. The company is contesting the fine.
In 2016, OSHA fined U.S. Steel Corp. $170,000 for directing seven employees to handle packing material containing asbestos at Clairton Coke Works. The Pittsburgh steelmaker appealed and negotiated the fine down to $120,375.