An Oklahoma contractor agreed to pay $370,680 in prison and civil penalties to keep away from federal prosecution for a employee’s deadly fall, the Occupational Security and Well being Administration (OSHA) introduced September 27. Skinner Tank Firm entered right into a deferred prosecution settlement on one rely of ignoring federal security rules that resulted in a employee fatality in St. Joseph, Missouri, in 2019.
OSHA cited Yale, Oklahoma-based Skinner Tank Firm in March 2020 for an absence of fall safety after an worker setting up a storage tank suffered deadly accidents in a 50-foot (ft) fall at a Missouri agricultural facility. The company cited the corporate for two willful and 11 severe security violations; proposed penalties totaling $415,204; and positioned the employer in OSHA’s Extreme Violator Enforcement Program (SVEP).
Within the deferred prosecution settlement, Skinner Tank Firm admitted that its violation of OSHA’s building security coaching and security web requirements induced the dying of its worker.
An worker engaged on the roof of the 56-ft soybean storage tank fell greater than 50 ft to the bottom. OSHA inspectors decided that Skinner Tank Firm didn’t require workers to make use of fall safety on October 14, 2019, whereas engaged on the roof of the soybean storage tank and didn’t present fall safety coaching. The company’s inspection additionally revealed that the corporate offered inaccurate security info to its workers by telling them that carrying fall safety posed a larger hazard than not carrying it.
“The decision of this case sends a robust message that OSHA will maintain employers accountable for willful violations of federal security rules that critically or fatally injure their employees,” Billie Kizer, OSHA’s regional administrator in Kansas Metropolis, Missouri, stated in an company assertion. “Every year, too many employees lose their lives from falls—the main reason for office deaths within the building business—as a result of employers fail to offer fall safety.”
“The Division of Labor pursued authorized motion and made a prison referral to the Division of Justice to carry Skinner Tank Firm accountable for its willful violation of security rules that resulted in an worker’s dying,” Regional Solicitor of Labor Christine Heri stated. “Compliance with the Occupational Security and Well being Act’s fall safety necessities is important to stop fatalities just like the one which occurred right here. To satisfy their authorized obligations underneath the Act and shield their employees on the job, employers should observe the relevant federal security and well being rules.”
Skinner Tank Firm, based in 1982, is a family-operated firm that builds welded metal storage tanks throughout the nation, based on OSHA.
The company cited a Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) report that almost one in 5 office deaths in 2021 occurred within the building business. Simply over one-third of building deaths had been because of falls, slips, and journeys, virtually all of which had been from falls to a decrease degree. The development business accounted for 46.2 % of all deadly falls, slips, and journeys in 2021, based on BLS information.
Employer assets on OSHA’s web site embody video displays in English and Spanish to show employees about fall hazards and correct security procedures.
