Related Links: Time line of OSHA actions related to 2005 BP refinery explosion OSHA Slaps BP With Record Fine For Not Fixing Blast Hazards (ENR 11/4/09) Energy giant BP has agreed to pay an additional $13 million to settle more than 400 U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration citations for alleged willful safety violations at the company’s Texas City, Texas, refinery.The agreement, announced on July 12, is the latest development in the wake of a March 2005 explosion at the refinery that killed 15 workers—all of whom worked for Jacobs Engineering Group and Fluor Corp., contractors at the facility at
Related Links: Arizona Workers Are Old Pros At Sweating In The Southwest Hot or Cold, Weather Plays a Big Role In Job Productivity A heat wave over much of the U.S. last week claimed a construction worker near Tucson—a stark reminder of the danger heat poses to those in the building trades. Mark Geise, 44, died of apparent heat-related illness while constructing a propane filling station at a Costco store. A resident of Indiana, Geise was employed by Seese Construction, Monrovia, Ind., according to his obituary.The Marana Police Dept. and OSHA are investigating. It was the third heat-related death of
Courtesy of the Southern Nevada Water Authority Dwindling Lake Mead is site of $526-million intake tunnel project to boost water supply. Courtesy of the Southern Nevada Water Authority The fatal accident occurred in post-TBM grout work. Related Links: Third Lake Mead Intake Tunnel Tough Job for Water Authority Big Drop in Lake Mead Level Curbs Hoover Water, Power A construction accident at the four-year-old raw-water intake project at southern Nevada's Lake Mead, now a $526.6-million job, claimed its first fatality on June 11, when Thomas A. Turner, a union laborer and operating engineer, was struck in the head by a
AP Fatal collapse in New York City killed two workers at a jobsite. Competing claims of prosecutorial overreach and reckless disregard for human life left no middle ground in the final arguments in New York City equipment executive James Lomma's criminal trial. Defense attorneys and prosecutors traded heated allegations in closing statements on April 19 and 20. The case is linked to the fatal 2008 collapse of a tower crane Lomma rented to a high-rise jobsite.Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Daniel Conviser said he would deliver a verdict on April 26. The defense had requested a bench, or non-jury, trial.The owner of
Richard Korman/ENR Maria Leo, right, mother of crane operator Donald Leo, who died in the 2008 tower crane accident, and attorney Bernadette Panzella, criticize acquittal of crane owner James Lomma outside Manhattan courtroom. Richard Korman/ENR James Lomma, left, leaving the defense table minutes after his acquittal in state court in Manhattan on manslaughter charges. Related Links: Acquittals in Ground Zero Fire Trial Acquitted Master Rigger Seeks Return of License Lomma Employee Plea Deal 2010 Tudor Van Hampton Blog on Lomma Case In six terse sentences following two months of testimony and technical detail, a state court judge in Manhattan cleared
Related Links: Results of AGC safety survey DOT Secretary LaHood's blog on work zone safety More than two-thirds of highway contractors responding to a new Associated General Contractors of America survey say that motor vehicles crashed into their work zones over the past 12 months and almost one-fifth reported construction-worker fatalities in those accidents.AGC released the survey on April 23, near the start of National Work Zone Awareness Week, a joint industry-government effort to put a spotlight on the dangers on highway job sites and reduce fatalities and injuries.There has been progress. According to U.S. Dept. of Transportation statistics, there
Related Links: Building Sequence Probed at Cincinnati Casino Collapse Six contractors building Cincinnati's $400-million Horseshoe Casino did not take steps to ensure the building was stable before pouring a concrete floor atop the steel-framed structure, according to U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration citations issued earlier this month. The probe calls into question the roles, responsibilities and inspection procedures of the trades working on the project.The building is a straightforward design, with beam-to-column double connections. "I think the lesson to be learned is that every structure is unique, and every structure needs new consideration for safety," says Jeffrey L. Garrett,
Photo by the New York Times/Hiroko Masuike Collapse of crane's lattice boom killed laborer and injured three others at site of subway line extension on Manhattan's West Side. Photo by N.Y. Daily News Investigators are looking at frayed cable and broken wire strands on the crane's hoist system for clues to the accident's cause. Investigators looking into the latest deadly crane collapse on a New York City construction site say a failure of the crane's hoist system is the likely cause of the accident, which left one dead and three others injured. But the Metropolitan Transit Authority, the state agency
Related Links: TV News Report One Day After Lightning Strike on the Revel Project TV News Report on the Day of the Lightning Strike at the Revel Two workers injured last September by a lighting strike while building an Atlantic City casino resort, and the widow of a third worker who was killed, filed a lawsuit April 4 against contractors and others involved with the project.Dennis Lamond and Joe Forcinito, the workers, and Carmen Bradley, the widow of Bryan Bradley, filed a lawsuit in state court in Atlantic City against Tishman Construction Corp. and Network Construction Co., Pleasantville, N.J.Network Construction
AP Photo Project in New York City where latest crane collapse killed a worker. Related Links: Former Regulator Testifies in N.Y. Crane Criminal Trial Lawyers Trade Contradictory Facts as N.Y. Crane Collapse Criminal Trial Restarts The crane that collapsed on the site of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s No. 7 line subway extension project in New York City had passed its most recent inspection in January and was set for another one this week, a source close to the project has told ENR.The collapse, which occurred April 3 shortly before 7:30 p.m. and killed one worker, was called a “freak accident”
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