Last November, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. announced felonious assault charges against a contractor’s superintendent and a manufacturer’s branch manager after two men suffered horrific injuries on a New York jobsite. Last week, OSHA formally announced citations against the St. Louis, Missouri based contractor.
On June 25, 2018, a mini crane fell four stories while lifting glass panels causing a traumatic brain injury to one worker and major spinal injuries to a second worker. Both the criminal charges and the OSHA inspection concluded that the contractor failed to properly train the employees on site before allowing them to operate the equipment.
“This employer knowingly put workers at risk by failing to ensure that the crane was operated by a competent person,” said Kay Gee, OSHA’s Manhattan Area Office Director in a statement. “Effective training of employees, knowledge of equipment’s limits, and correct operation of equipment are critical to preventing injuries.”
In total, OSHA issued 1 serious and 1 willful citation with total proposed penalties of $155,204 to the contractor.
Specifically, the contractor was also cited for the equipment being used in excess of its rated capacity (29 CFR 1926.1417), failing to ensure that the operator verified that the load was within the rated capacity (29 CFR 1926.1417), not ensuring that the equipment operator was competent (29 CFR 1926.1427), and for failing to ensure the employee was properly trained and understood the information (29 CFR 1926.1427).
You can view the full text of the citations by clicking here.
Full story: U.S. Department of Labor Cites Contractor Following Crane Collapse At New York City Construction Worksite | OSHA
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