ConDig (12-Dec-17).  The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has fined a Garden City, Georgia-based contractor $130,552 for failing to protect workers from a potential trench collapse while installing water lines.

The agency said that Dustcom Limited Inc had failed to to appoint a competent person to ensure the use of cave-in protection; using a damaged ladder for entering and exiting a trench and failing to place a soil pile at least 24 inches from the edge of the excavation.

“Excavations without cave-in protection are life threatening for the employees who work in them,” said OSHA area director Margo Westmoreland, in Savannah.

“Employers must ensure that proper safeguards are in place to prevent putting workers at risk.”

The inspection of the site was part of the OSHA’s national emphasis program on trenching.

Dustcom has 15 business days from the receipt of the citation and proposed penalties to comply, request an informal conference, or contest the findings.

OSHA has been more active in the past month and last week issued a fine of $86,916 on a Princeton, West Virginia-based contractor for fall violations.

It also fined a Plainville, Connecticut-based contractor after an investigation found that workers were being exposed to mercury and respirator hazards.