OSHA Says Breese Contractor Put Laborers at Risk
Date Posted: June 13, 2023
Posted In: News,
From St. Louis Public Radio: A Breese, Illinois, contractor has been issued multiple penalties for trench cave-in violations.
According to a press release from the U.S. Department of Labor, Groundworks Contracting Inc. of Breese was cited for ignoring a city engineer’s instructions to use trench cave-in protection.
A federal workplace safety inspectors found Groundworks Contracting failed to protect workers who were installing storm sewer lines from the risk of trench cave-ins on a least five occasions.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration, OSHA, cited Groundworks Contracting for one willful violation, four serious violations, and one other-than-serious violation of federal trenching and excavation standards, and proposed penalties of $77,147.
Jason Richter, owner of Groundworks, denies any wrongdoing. The company has appealed the violations with a hearing set for Wednesday, June 14.
“No, these things are not true,” Richter said Monday afternoon. “When the OHSA officer came out there, he said everything looked fine. As far as we knew, everything was okay.”
Richter added he and his company place a premium on the safety of their workers.
“They all get an OSHA handbook and have to sign it before they even start working for us,” he said. “We have safety meetings every week. Safety is a very big thing to us and the safety of our workers is more important than anything. They all need to go home to their families every day.”