Texas-based Tree Services Company Fined for Safety Violations in Illinois

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited ABC Professional Tree Services Inc., a Houston, Texas-based company specializing in tree trimming for public utility lines clearance, with $146,000 in proposed penalties for allegedly failing to ensure employees were trained to work near energized transmission and distribution lines. The fines are the result of a May jobsite inspection in Morris, Ill.

OSHA issued one willful citation with a proposed penalty of $70,000 for failing to ensure employees were trained and qualified to work near energized transmission and distribution lines.

ABC Professional Tree Services also received one repeat violation with a penalty of $70,000 for allowing workers to operate a bucket truck within the minimum approach distance to energized transmission lines.

In addition, the company was issued one serious violation with a proposed penalty of $5,000 for failing to conduct a job briefing prior to the start of the workday and one other-than-serious violation with a proposed penalty of $1,000 for failing to certify the OSHA 300 logs that record employee injuries and illnesses for the years 2007, 2008 and 2009.

Since 2004, ABC Professional Tree Services has been inspected 11 times nationwide and issued 15 citations for violating OSHA standards. These inspections include three that resulted from workplace fatalities in 2006 and 2007.

The company has 15 business days from receipt of its citations and penalties to comply, request an informal conference with OSHA’s area director or contest the findings before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

Source: OSHA