Oklahoma Contractor Faces $85K Tremendous Over Deadly Trench Collapse – Cyber Tech

An Edmond, Oklahoma contractor with a historical past of office security violations courting again to 2018, together with three associated to the hazards in underground trenches, was discovered disregarding U.S. Division of Labor laws.

In February 2024, investigators with the division’s Occupational Security and Well being Administration realized a 61-year-old pipe layer employed by Jerlow Development Co. suffered deadly accidents when a 9-foot deep trench collapsed at a residential work web site close to Shawnee. The company decided the employer allowed their workers to work in an excavation with out correct protections, together with shielding, benching, sloping or different gadgets. The incident occurred as workers labored beneath the floor to put in an 8-inch water line.

“Nobody ought to ever be allowed to enter or work in an excavation with out required protecting programs in place and with out inspection of the ditch by a professional particular person,” defined OSHA Space Director Steven Kirby in Oklahoma Metropolis. “Regardless of quite a few warnings and notices of violations for failing to guard workers in trenches, Jerlow Development has joined the all-too-long record of employers whose defiance of federal laws resulted in a preventable lack of life. Their failures are inexcusable.”

OSHA issued citations to Jerlow Development for one repeat violation and three critical violations following this incident’s investigation. Infractions embody failing to offer satisfactory programs to forestall trench cave-ins, prepare workers on learn how to acknowledge hazards associated to excavations and carry out day by day inspections to confirm secure entry circumstances for the excavation. The corporate faces $85,173 in proposed penalties, an quantity set by federal statute.

Based in 1973, Jerlow Development Co. is a licensed underground utility building firm that installs and providers sanitary and storm sewers and water mains for residential developments and business tasks.

Jerlow Development Co. has 15 enterprise days from receipt of its citations and penalties to conform, request an off-the-cuff convention with OSHA’s space director, or contest the findings earlier than the impartial Occupational Security and Well being Evaluation Fee.

Supply: OSHA

Subjects
Contractors
Oklahoma