2 Missouri Employers Jailed for Noncompliance With OSHA Citations

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration announced the arrest of two St. Louis, Mo., employers for failing to comply with court sanctions enforcing OSHA citations.

Brian Andre, former owner of Andre Tuckpointing and Brickwork, and Regina Shaw, owner of Andre Stone & Mason Work Inc., the successor company to Andre Tuckpointing and Brickwork were arrested after repeatedly failing to comply with OSHA final orders.

The order for incarceration stems from Andre and Shaw’s failure to comply with sanctions ordered by the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, following the court’s initial ruling of contempt against Andre and Shaw in January 2010.

OSHA issued numerous citations from June 2003 to the present, to both the original company and its successor, for willful, repeat and serious violations related to fall hazards, scaffolding erection deficiencies, power tool guarding and other hazards in connection with multiple St. Louis-area projects.

When the companies failed to comply with the court’s 11(b) order enforcing the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission’s final orders, the Labor Department’s Office of the Solicitor filed petitions for contempt.

As a result, a special master of the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals found Brian Andre, Andre Stone & Mason Work Inc. and Regina Shaw in contempt, and ordered various sanctions including requiring them to pay outstanding penalties, continually accruing interest and other miscellaneous fees in the current amount of $258,582.

Andre Stone & Mason Work Inc. and Regina Shaw must pay a $100 daily penalty, calculated from the time of default in early 2008 on the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission’s final orders.

Andre Stone & Mason Work Inc. must provide OSHA weekly notification of all current jobs and known future jobs at least 72 hours prior to commencement of work for a period of three years. The company also must provide training to all persons currently and subsequently designated as jobsite “competent persons” prior to beginning any work and provide the department with records of such training.

Source: OSHA