Region 2 News Release: BOS 2000-081
Thursday, June 1, 2000
Contact: Ted Fitzgerald
PHONE: (617) 565-2074
Over $52,000 in Penalties Proposed against Contractor
OSHA CITES PRIME CONTRACTOR ON METROWEST TUNNEL PROJECT FOR
ALLEGED SERIOUS, REPEAT AND OTHER SAFETY VIOLATIONS
The U.S. Labor Department's Occupational Safety and Health
Administration (OSHA) has cited the prime contractor for the
construction of the MetroWest Water Supply Tunnel between
Southborough and Weston, Mass., for alleged Serious, Repeat and
Other than Serious violations of the Occupational Safety and
Health Act on the underground construction project and has
proposed penalties totaling $52,300.
According to K. Frank Gravitt, OSHA area director in Methuen,
the alleged violations were discovered during safety and health
inspections conducted between January 11 and May 8, 2000, and
encompass a variety of hazards associated with underground
construction. These inspections were conducted as part of OSHA's
periodic monitoring of the tunnel project. A separate inspection
initiated in response to the May 11 collision of two trains in
the tunnel is still open and ongoing.
Among the major hazards identified in the latest inspections:
 | employees who changed cutters on the head of the tunnel
boring machine had to enter a confined space between the
front of the machine and the tunnel's face and were thus
exposed to the hazards of delayed rescue and an
oxygen-deficient or toxic atmosphere. The air in the
confined space should have been tested, a confined space
entry program implemented and confined space training
provided to exposed employees; |
| locomotive engineers and brakemen were exposed to the
hazard of being struck by falling debris while they passed
beneath the shaft and/or a concrete loading platform due to
the lack of an operator's canopy on their locomotives; |
| two instances where required air monitoring was not
conducted to evaluate silica exposure levels and determine
if and what level of respiratory protection was required for
workers; |
| on February 7, after the ventilation system had been shut
down for ten days, air testing of the tunnel was not
conducted prior to employees' entering it; |
| employees were exposed to derailment, slipping, tripping
or fall hazards at various locations where muck, mud or
debris had accumulated and not been removed; in one
instance, a work platform collapsed on January 24 after muck
had accumulated on it; |
| emergency self-rescuer respirators were not available at
all required locations and all required inspections of
emergency respirators had not been conducted and recorded; |
| improper storage and handling of compressed gas
cylinders, including excess amounts stored underground; |
| worn and damaged nylon lifting slings had not been
removed from service; |
| restricted or lost workdays were not entered in the OSHA
illness and injury log in a timely manner; |
| other items, including a too-narrow work platform on a
scaffold, employees not kept clear of a suspended load, and
failure to ensure a 25 ton motor was free of defects prior
to its use in the tunnel. |
On February 18 of this year, OSHA cited the Contractor for an alleged Willful violation, with a proposed fine of
$45,500, for failing to protect workers from being struck by
falling ice and muck while working in the tunnel. That citation
and penalty are currently under contest. Gravitt noted that,
prior to this year, OSHA conducted seven inspections of the
Construction Job Site
between August 1997 and August 1999. Those inspections resulted
in citations for 11 Other than Serious violations, with a total
of $5,140 in fines.
"Clearly, this upward trend is disturbing," said
Gravitt. "Earlier inspections identified relatively few
serious hazards, yet as the project continues the number and
severity of cited hazards has greatly increased.
"Construction is, by its very nature, highly hazardous
work and underground construction carries special risks and
safety requirements," he said. "The fact that no one
has been killed on this project should not engender a false
sense of security. To minimize the risks posed to workers by
their jobs, safety standards must continually and consistently
be met, every day, every shift, without exception. The stakes
are too high to allow anything less."
Gravitt urged Massachusetts employers and employees with
questions regarding workplace safety and health standards to
contact the OSHA area offices in Methuen, Braintree or
Springfield and added that OSHA's toll-free, nationwide hotline
--1-800-321-OSHA (1-800-321-6742)-- may be used to report
workplace accidents or fatalities or situations posing imminent
danger to workers, especially if they occur outside of normal
business hours.
A serious violation is defined by OSHA as one in which there
is a substantial probability that death or serious physical harm
could result, and the employer knew, or should have known, of
the hazard. An other-than-serious violation is a condition which
would probably not cause death or serious physical harm but
would have a direct and immediate relationship to the safety and
health of employees. A repeat violation is issued when an
employer has been cited for a substantially similar violation on
a previous OSHA inspection and that citation has become final.
OSHA is empowered by the Occupational Safety and Health Act
of 1970 to issue standards and rules requiring employers to
provide their employees with safe and healthful workplaces and
jobsites, and to assure through workplace inspections that those
standards are followed. The company has 15 working days from
receipt of the citations and proposed penalties to either elect
to comply with them, to request and participate in an informal
conference with the OSHA area director, or to contest them
before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review
Commission.
Serious violations with proposed penalties of $39,650,
for:
| failure to provide a place of employment free from
recognized hazards likely to cause death or serious injury
in that employees were exposed to the hazards of delayed
rescue and possible injury while entering or exiting a space
between the tunnel face and the cutting head of the tunnel
boring machine (TBM) without benefit of a confined space
entry program and without testing of the confined space to
determine an oxygen-deficient or toxic atmosphere; |
| failure to adequately train employees about the hazards
of entering the confined space between the TBM and the
tunnel face; |
| failure to provide a place of employment free from
recognized hazards likely to cause death or serious injury
in that locomotive operators and brakemen were exposed to
the hazard of being struck by falling material while passing
beneath the shaft and/or concrete loading platforms due to
the lack of an operator's canopy; |
| failure to conduct air monitoring to gauge employees'
exposure to silica during boring operations and removing of
hardened concrete from a rail car; |
| failure to ensure that emergency respirators were
available at underground work locations where employees
could be trapped by smoke or gas; |
| failure to conduct required inspections of emergency
respirators and maintain records of same; |
| failure to have a competent person conduct air testing
prior to allowing employees to enter the tunnel after it had
been shut down for 10 days; |
| employees exposed to slipping, tripping, falling and
derailment hazards due to accumulated muck, mud and
equipment in various shafts and tunnels; |
| employees accessing or leaving underground work area were
exposed to slipping and tripping hazards while passing
equipment parked on the rail transit system; |
| failure to ensure employees were kept clear of suspended
loads; |
| failure to ensure that a 25 ton motor was free of defects
before using it inside the tunnel; |
| failure to ensure that oncoming shifts were notified of
the erection of a bulkhead in one tunnel; |
| compressed gas cylinders not secured in a vertical
position; oxygen and compressed gas cylinders not properly
stored; and not stored where they wouldn't be knocked over
or exposed to damage. |
| excess amounts of fuel gas and oxygen cylinders kept
below ground; |
| a scaffold platform walkway was not the proper width (at
least 18 inches); |
| no fall protection for employees working in a high car
elevated over 7 feet; |
| failure to provide a stairway or ladder for access to a
concrete form. |
| protective footwear not provided to an employee required
to work in wet conditions. |
Two alleged Repeat violations, with proposed penalties of
$12,000, for:
| failure to ensure that damaged/defective synthetic nylon
web slings were removed from service; [the company had
previously been cited for a violation of this safety
standard on September 27, 1999, following an inspection in
Southborough, Mass.]; |
| no safety guards for an abrasive grinder; [the company had
previously been cited for a violation of this safety
standard or its equivalent on October 30, 1997, following an
inspection in Framingham, Mass.]. |
One alleged Other the Serious violation, with a proposed
penalty of $650, for;
| seven instances of failing to record lost or restricted
workdays in a timely manner. |
|
