ConDig (09-Nov-18).  The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has fined two Florida contractors after a worker suffered crushing injuries at a construction project in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

The agency cited Tom Krips Construction Inc. and Etherna Services Inc. after a lattice boom section of a crane fell onto the employee during disassembly, crushing his foot and ankle.

OSHA said that Tom Krips Construction had failed to follow disassembly procedures established by the manufacturer, allowing employees to work under the boom while removing connecting pins and not providing training for employees on assembly and disassembly procedures.

It also said that Etherna Services had failed to train employees on safely disassembling a boom crane and on the hazards associated with disassembly.

Tom Krips Construction faces $29,877 in penalties and Etherna Services penalties that total $5,174.

The companies have 15 business days to comply, request an informal conference with OSHA’s area director, or contest the findings before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

It comes as OSHA fined a Florida-based framing contractor $113,816 over fall hazards on a project in Panama City late last month.

OSHA also recently fined Pennsylvania-based Pipe Contracting LLC $331,101 after an employee was fatally electrocuted on a construction project in Johnstown, Pennsylvania.

A 2016 Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released in December showed that the rate of fatal injuries in the construction industry increased 6% in 2016 to 991 worker deaths compared with 937 in 2015.

BLS figures showed that falls, struck by objects, electrocutions and caught-in/between accounted for 63.7% of all construction worker deaths in last year. There was a rise in total construction worker deaths for each of the “Fatal Four” in 2016.