OSHA Fines Ala. Firm for Death of Worker in Trench Collapse

OSHA cites company for Gulfport death
Received by Newsfinder from AP
Oct 12, 2006 1:01 Eastern Time
GULFPORT, Miss. (AP) _ The Occupational Health and Safety Administration penalized a company whose worker died in a trench collapse with its most severe citation.

OSHA officials cited Big Warrior Corp. of Cleveland, Ala., for a willful violation and seven serious violations in the wake of Eleazar Casiano’s April 27 death.

The agency has proposed fines totaling $78,100 for failure to follow standard safety precautions, OSHA area director Clyde Payne said.

Casiano, 20, of Mount Olive, N.C., died when an 8- to 10-foot trench collapsed while he and two co-workers were digging under a sewer line.

“The company disregarded its own safety manual requirements and federal safety regulations with tragic results,” Payne said. “They knew they needed to use trench boxes or trench shields, shore it up or slope it back.”

Payne said OSHA imposes a willful citation when a company has shown “an intentional disregard of, or plain indifference to” OSHA regulations.

Big Warrior officials have 15 working days to contest the ruling. A company spokesman was not available for comment.

The other citations allege the company failed to provide a safe way to enter and exit the excavation, to provide safety training for the workers, put excavated materials too close to the edge of the trench and failed to conduct soil analysis.