August 1, 2016

OSHA fines utility contractor $46K in fatal March 2016 crane
failure at highway construction project in Arkansas' Hope County
Investigators find BC Main Construction exposed workers to serious crane hazards

Employer name: B C Main Construction Inc., doing business as MAIN

Inspection Site: 22500 SR 7 North, Dover, Arkansas 72837

Citations issued: July 29, 2016

Investigation findings: The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration in Little Rock issued citations for 13 serious violations to B C Main Construction after a truck-mounted, crane boom broke free and crushed an employee, killing him instantly on March 3, 2016.

The serious violations include:

• Not making sure a qualified person inspected repaired equipment to ensure the repair met the manufacturer's criteria.
• Failing to ensure a registered professional engineer, familiar with the equipment, signed procedures related to the capacity of the equipment; and failing to have procedures on the operation of the equipment in the crane's cab at all times for use by the operator.
• Lacking maintenance and repair personnel who met the definition of a qualified person for the equipment, and the maintenance and repair tasks performed.
• Missing warning labels and decals originally supplied by the manufacturer for the equipment.
• Making modifications or additions unapproved by the manufacturer that affected the safe operation of the equipment.

Proposed Penalties: $46,200

Quote: "B C Main Construction has a responsibility to ensure its employees are trained in all aspects of their duties and that the equipment they operate meets all safety standards," said Carlos Reynolds, OSHA's area director in Little Rock. "If the law had been followed, a man's life would not have been taken cruelly and his family would have been spared their grief."

Link to the citations: http://www.osha.gov/ooc/citations/BCMainConstruction_1129879.pdf

Information: B C Main Construction has 15 business days from receipt of its citations to comply, request an informal conference with OSHA's area director, or contest the citations and penalties before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

To ask questions, obtain compliance assistance, file a complaint or report workplace hospitalizations, fatalities or situations posing imminent danger to workers, the public should call OSHA's toll-free hotline at 800-321-OSHA (6742) or the agency's Little Rock Area Office at 501-224-1841.

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Media Contact:

Chauntra Rideaux, 972-850-4710, rideaux.chauntra.D@dol.gov
Juan J. Rodríguez, 972-850-4709, rodriguez.juan@dol.gov

Release Number: 16-1533-DAL

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