Texas Construction Company Cited for Excavation, Fall Hazards

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited S.J. Louis Construction of Texas Ltd. based in Austin, Texas, with 10 alleged serious and two other-than-serious violations for exposing workers to multiple safety hazards, including a possible trench cave-in and exposure to electrical hazards at the company’s Leander, Texas, worksite. Proposed penalties total $51,000.

“OSHA has specific standards to prevent trenching hazards that employers are required to follow. A trenching cave-in can quickly lead to a worker dying,” said Casey Perkins, area director of OSHA’s Austin Area Office. “It’s the employers’ responsibility to protect workers and when employers fail to do so, OSHA will cite them.”

OSHA’s Austin Area Office began its investigation on March 23 at the company’s worksite on Trails End Road in Leander, where employees were working in a 17-foot deep excavation site that was not properly shielded or sloped to protect workers from a possible cave-in. The inspection was conducted under the agency’s National Emphasis Program on Trenching and Excavation.

Serious violations include failing to provide the required excavation sloping to prevent a possible cave-in, perform effective excavation inspections, provide rescue equipment for workers who were welding in confined spaces, provide the safe placement of a ladder for egress during excavation activities, provide the proper machine guarding for a rotating shaft on a piece of equipment and ensure workers were adequately protected from overhead electrical lines.

A serious violation is one for which there is substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result from a hazard about which the employer knew or should have known.

The two other-than-serious violations involve failing to properly certify injury and illness records in the OSHA 300 log. An other-than-serious violation is one that has a direct relationship to job safety and health but probably would not cause death or serious physical harm.

S.J. Louis Construction has 15 business days from receipt of citations to comply, request an informal conference with OSHA’s area director in Austin, or contest the citations and penalties before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

Source: OSHA