OSHA cites companies following worker deaths

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration recently released details of three enforcement actions involving employers it said were responsible for worker deaths.

Following the drowning of a heavy-equipment operator at a Leland, North Carolina, worksite in August 2024, OSHA fined Lafayette, Louisiana-based Rigid Constructors LLC a total of $50,703, alleging four serious violations, including failing to train workers on operating a marsh hoe and not providing or requiring employees to use personal protective and lifesaving equipment.

Electrical contractor Dexter Fortson Associates Inc. faces $84,789 in penalties for alleged lapses in safety protocols after an employee was electrocuted in Coaling, Alabama, in June 2024.

OSHA alleges a Glenburn, Massachusetts, general contractor, Patriot Paving Group LLC, disregarded an onsite expert’s “repeated warnings” and the company’s own site-specific safety plan when an employee suffered fatal crushing injuries when an unbraced retaining wall collapsed in June 2024. The investigation resulted in $161,325 in fines.