OSHA fines Georgia contractor over excavation hazards

ConDig (26-Mar-19).  The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has fined a Dallas, Georgia-based contractor $106,078 for exposing employees to excavation hazards while installing water and sewer lines on a project in Acworth. 

The agency said that it cited Corley Contractors Inc, which operates as C&L Contractors, after inspectors noticed that it had failed to install a protective cave-in system inside the excavation area and did not provide a safe means to enter and exit the trench.

“In a matter of seconds, employees can be seriously or fatally injured when a trench collapses,” said OSHA Atlanta-West acting area office director Jeffery Stawowy. 

“Employers are required to slope, shore, or shield trench walls to protect workers from cave-ins.”

The company 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.

In June last year, a Florida-based utility contractor was fined $18,659 by OSHA for exposing workers to cave-in and other hazards at a Naples construction project.

OSHA fined two contractors $157,792 earlier this month after two workers died on a hotel project in Orlando, Florida.

Tragedy struck at the JW Marriott Hotel when workers pouring concrete on the seventh floor fell after the support structure collapsed.

The agency said that PCL Construction Services Inc  and Universal Engineering Sciences were cited after ruling the contractors failed to inspect formwork, shoring, working decks, and scaffolds properly prior to construction to ensure that the equipment met the required specified formwork drawings.