Sunday, July 19, 2015

Bridge collapses on I-10 in Desert Center, traps vehicle. July storms break 130-year old record

DESERT CENTER, Calif. - Cal Fire reports a bridge has collapsed trapping at least one person in their vehicle.
The collapsed roadway is near Eagle Mountain Road on the Eastbound of the I-10 freeway.

It trapped a truck beneath the debris. One person was trapped inside, a passenger was able to get out.

Firefighters responded to the scene and began a cut and rescue operation at 4:43 p.m. on the eastbound side of the freeway. Just after 7:00p.m. Rescue crews were able to free the driver. They are being transported with moderate injuries via ground ambulance.

A 30 by 50 foot section collapsed into the water that build up during Sunday's storms.

CHP reports flooding has blocked all lanes in the area as well.

The freeway is shut down in both directions. Traffic is being turned around at Chiriaco Summit and Corn Springs.

Cal Fire tells us about 500 cars are backed up.

We have a crew on the way will continue to monitor the situation and bring any updates as they come into our newsroom.

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Remote part of I-10 collapses amid heavy rains in California

LOS ANGELES, CA (AP) —

An elevated section of Interstate 10 collapsed Sunday amid heavy rains in a remote desert area of California, cutting off traffic between the state and Arizona and leaving a driver injured.

A bridge on eastbound I-10 across a normally dry desert wash about 50 miles west of the Arizona state line washed away, the California Highway Patrol said, blocking all traffic headed toward Arizona.

The westbound section of the freeway remained intact, but traffic was being stopped while it was inspected for safety.

The Riverside County Fire Department said it had to extract a driver who crashed in the collapse. The person was taken to a hospital with moderate injuries.

Pamala Browne, 53, and her daughter were driving from Flagstaff, Arizona to Palm Desert, California when they got stranded when the westbound lanes were shutdown.

"Oh my God, we are so stuck out here," Browne told the Desert Sun newspaper.

She said "we're talking miles" of cars waiting for a route to open.

The rains came amid a second day of showers and thunderstorms in southern and central California that were setting rainfall records in what is usually a dry month.

Rain fell Sunday afternoon in parts of Los Angeles County's mountains, the valley north and inland urban areas to the east. The city also was expected to get a late repeat of Saturday's scattered showers and occasional downpours as remnants of tropical storm Dolores brought warm, muggy conditions northward.

"We have a chance of some more heavy rain in LA County this evening, thunderstorms, lightning, possibly some localized street flooding," said National Weather Service meteorologist Joe Sirard.

The showers forced the Los Angeles Angels' first rainout in 20 years and the San Diego Padres' first rainout since 2006.

Saturday's rainfall broke records in at least 11 locations, including five places that had the most rain ever recorded on any day in July, Sirard said.

July is typically the driest month of the year in Southern California. Because of that, Saturday's 0.36 inch of rain in downtown Los Angeles exceeded the 0.24 inch recorded July 14, 1886, which had been the wettest July day in nearly 130 years.

The record is especially significant, Sirard said, because downtown Los Angeles has the longest recording climate station, dating back to July 1, 1877.

Saturday's storm brought flash floods and power outages and turned Los Angeles County's typically packed coast into empty stretches of sand when the threat of lightning forced authorities to close 70 miles of beaches.

AJ Lester of the Los Angeles County Fire Department's Lifeguard Division said he has been in touch with weather officials and was tracking rain reports.

Signs warned beachgoers to avoid storm drain flows into the ocean because of Saturday's sometimes heavy rain. The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health recommends people avoid swimming within 100 yards of a storm drain for 72 hours after heavy rain.

"All storm drains flowed out yesterday, but it hasn't rained much this year, so that doesn't bode well for the water quality," Lester said Sunday.

Warnings were also in place for high surf and strong rip currents on all south-facing beaches, including Venice, Santa Monica, Malibu, Zuma, Newport and Huntington, Lester said.

Meanwhile, the summer storm has helped firefighters advance on two wildfires that broke out Friday.

Muggy, moist conditions were expected to persist through Monday.

Pedestrian deaths are on the rise: Many people wear headphones or look at their phones while walking, not paying attention to what's going on around them.

Metropolitan wants to remind residents to be mindful of their surroundings when walking on township streets.

Many pedestrians are observed wearing headphones while walking or running.

At times these pedestrians seem oblivious to the traffic situations they encounter.

When listening to music or looking at a digital device, people walking may not be paying attention to what’s happening around them.

Residents should always walk on sidewalks, or, if there is no sidewalk available, the extreme left in the road, facing approaching traffic.

Erratic drivers are unfortunately among us and they pose the biggest danger to the pedestrians.

So, always be careful out there.

Taste of Death instead of Taste of Wine in LI: Truck Driver Was Drunk in Long Island T-Bone Collision with Limousine That Killed Four, Injured 2 Women Doing Wine Tasting

The crash happened when a limousine attempted to make a U-turn on Route 48 in Cutchogue, N.Y., on Saturday evening, the Southold Police Department said. Credit The Suffolk Times

By VIVIAN YEE and J. DAVID GOODMAN

JULY 19, 2015

CUTCHOGUE, N.Y. —

They gathered for an annual rite of the summer wedding season in this rural corner of eastern Long Island: the chauffeured wine tasting with close friends. Eight women, all in their mid-20s, from Suffolk County, Scarsdale and Brooklyn, together in celebration on a Saturday afternoon.

Fresh from a vineyard visit around 5 p.m., the longtime friends piled into a black limousine rented for the occasion and rode a short distance before sloping into a U-turn at a crossing well-traveled by weekend revelers in the North Fork farmland.

It was there that a red pickup truck, hurtling along Route 48, collided with the broadside of the car, nearly ripping it in half. Four of the women died — three almost instantly from the impact, another a short time later a hospital — and two more were critically injured.

At once, families who hours before had been reveling in their daughters’ nascent lives as adults were plunged into mourning.

On Sunday the authorities said that alcohol was behind the devastating crash and charged the driver of the pickup, Steven Romeo, 55, of Southold, N.Y., with driving while intoxicated, a misdemeanor charge that Suffolk County prosecutors said could be upgraded.

Flowers brought to the scene of the crash at the intersection of Route 48 and Depot Lane in Cutchogue, N.Y. Credit Yana Paskova for The New York Times

Bail was set for Mr. Romeo, who was injured in the crash and arraigned from his hospital bed, at $500,000 cash or $1 million bond. Elizabeth Miller, an assistant district attorney in Suffolk County, declined to say what Mr. Romeo’s blood-alcohol level was or where he had been before Saturday’s crash.

“Right now, we’re continuing the investigation and looking into upgrading the charges significantly,” Ms. Miller said. Mr. Romeo pleaded not guilty.

She said the driver of the limousine, Carlos Pino, 58, of Bethpage, N.Y., would not be charged. He was also injured in the crash.

The Long Island counties of Suffolk and Nassau, densely populated and crisscrossed by roads that teem with summertime visitors, regularly lead the state in alcohol-related crashes and fatalities. For police officers and prosecutors here, sunny weekends are often punctuated by grisly roadside scenes.

In 2013, the two counties accounted for the largest percentage — 7.3 percent and 14.2 percent — of alcohol-related fatalities on New York State roads, according to state data. In 2013, 52 people died in such crashes in Suffolk County and 27 died in Nassau County.

The crash on Saturday came less than a week after three members of a Queens family died in a fiery collision in Suffolk County. Prosecutors said a man, Oneil Sharpe Jr., 23, plowed into the family’s car on the Southern State Parkway while driving drunk and then fled the scene.

Two children, 4 and 8, along with their father, Ancio Ostane of St. Albans, Queens, were killed. Their mother survived. Mr. Sharpe was arrested several hours later.

Outside the hospital on Sunday, Mr. Romeo’s lawyer, Daniel O’Brien, denied that his client was intoxicated and declined to comment on where Mr. Romeo had been before the collision, saying only, “That’s got to be developed.”

The limousine had been carrying a bride-to-be and seven of her friends, who were celebrating her upcoming wedding, Ms. Miller said.

The group had just left Vineyard 48, a winery on Route 48 in Cutchogue, heading a short distance east before trying to turn around at Depot Lane. The pickup truck, occupied only by Mr. Romeo, was heading west along Route 48.

The group was made up of six women from Suffolk County, one from Brooklyn and another from Scarsdale, N.Y., the authorities said. The bride-to-be was one of the four passengers who survived the crash, Ms. Miller said.

The four who died were identified as Brittney M. Schulman, 23, and Lauren Baruch, 24, of Smithtown; Stephanie Belli, 23, of Kings Park; and Amy R. Grabina, 23, of Commack. (The authorities originally rendered Ms. Schulman’s first name as Brittany.)

The authorities identified the other women as Joelle Dimonte, 25, of Elwood; Melissa Angela Crai, 23, of Scarsdale; Alicia Arundel, 24, of Setauket; and Olga Lipets, 24, of Brooklyn.

“Amy was a firecracker,” said Amanda Corrado, 22, who grew close to Ms. Grabina at Camp Lohikan in the Poconos. “She’d walk into a room and everyone would seem to know her somehow. She was just so outgoing and funny.”

Clockwise from top left, Stephanie Belli, Brittney Schulman, Amy Grabina and Lauren Baruch.

Three of the woman who died, Ms. Baruch, Ms. Schulman and Ms. Belli, had been friends since elementary school, their former teacher in Smithtown, Roni Cohen, said in a brief telephone interview. Ms. Schulman’s mother works at the school.

“I knew that Brittney was a bridesmaid because her mom would tell me,” she said. “We heard all the happy things that were going on.”

The road where the crash occurred is dotted with vineyards in a part of Long Island where tourists frequently travel in limousines as part of winery tours.

On Sunday, a pot of purple flowers, several plastic-wrapped bouquets and a crumpled length of yellow caution tape lay tangled in the parched grass at the intersection of Route 48 and Depot Lane. The crossing, governed by flashing yellow lights overhead that warn drivers to slow down and exercise caution, is busy with drivers turning in and out of Depot Lane and cars — and a few party buses and limousines — making U-turns on Route 48.

A few hundred feet from the intersection on Sunday, Vineyard 48 welcomed groups of revelers who had stopped to sip wine and relax under a large white tent nestled among neat rows of grapevines. Limousines and dark-windowed party buses filled the parking lot.

“Music Sat and Sun,” a sign outside read. “Strawberry wine is here.”

Edward Webb, 76, had been driving along Route 48 on Saturday when he came upon the crash and called 911 around 5:15 p.m. He said the driver, his face bloodied, was coherent and had lowered the back of his pickup and sat holding a water bottle.

Steve Romeo in 2010. Credit The Suffolk Times

“He looked like a person who had just gotten into an accident,” Mr. Webb said. “He didn’t look like a stumble-down drunk.” He later learned the driver, whom he did not recognize at the time, was Mr. Romeo, a boat repairman who has lived in the area for about 15 years.

“He’s a good man,” Mr. Webb said.

Mr. Romeo’s business, Romeo Dimon Marine Service, is currently the subject of a lawsuit filed by the family of an employee who died on the job in January 2014. The suit alleges that Mr. Romeo, while operating heavy equipment, struck the employee, Andrew J. Leone, killing him.

Three of the victims died at the scene and the fourth died at Peconic Bay Medical Center in Riverhead, N.Y., Suffolk County authorities said. Two others were taken in critical condition to Stony Brook University Medical Center, the authorities said.

Arthur Belli said his granddaughter Stephanie “was a beautiful girl, just getting out of college and starting a career.” She enjoyed dancing and spending time with her family. She had two sisters.

After hearing news of Ms. Belli’s death, about 40 friends and relatives gathered at Mr. Belli’s home, “leaning on each other’s shoulders, just trying to console one another,” Mr. Belli said.

Her grandmother, Elizabeth Belli, said that the eight women were childhood friends.

“The winery tours are supposed to be a big thing to do nowadays,” she said through tears. “They took a limo to be safe, and they got killed.”

Vivian Yee reported from Cutchogue, and J. David Goodman from New York. Noah Remnick and Colleen Wright contributed reporting from New York. Jack Begg contributed research.

Wrong-way driver is killed, another seriously injured in I-485 head-on collision in North Carolina

Two patients were taken by ambulance to Carolinas Medical Center with serious injuries and another person was airlifted to the hospital, according to Medic. | WBTV

Highway patrol says some kind of medical condition was a factor in an accident on I-485 involving a wrong-way driver.

The driver of a red car was reportedly driving south on northbound lanes of I-485 near the Harrisburg Road exit when it hit a white vehicle head-on on Sunday morning.

Two patients were taken by ambulance to Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, NC with serious injuries and another person was airlifted to the hospital, according to Medic.

One of those patients was pronounced dead on the way to the hospital.

According to troopers, the wrong-way driver was the one that died.

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/community/news-alliance/wbtv-news/article27849346.html#storylink=cpy

Nowhere safe: Car wash employee hit and killed by driver at Simoniz Car Wash in Malden, Massachusetts

Posted: July 19, 2015

Reported by Kelli O'Hara

MALDEN, Mass. (WHDH) -

A car wash employee is dead after he was struck by a driver in Malden Sunday morning.

Employees at Simoniz Car Wash on Eastern Avenue said that a customer barreled through the tunnel when he came out of the exit and struck the man, who was cleaning another car's tires. Witnesses said they saw the car speed up suddenly before the crash.

"I heard the noise, a big noise, so I went outside to see what it was and the guy was under the tires," said one employee.

Coworkers said the victim was an El Salvadorian man in his 20s who was working with his two brothers when he was killed. Employees described him as a "great guy" who had worked at the car wash for awhile.

It is not known if any criminal charges will be filed against the driver.

Airline workers ask for federal probe of alleged racism, safety violations at American Airlines and US Airways

Airline workers claim American Airlines and US Airways are keeping dangerously faulty equipment in use: This is among the items they might have had in mind.

DANA DiFILIPPO, Daily News Staff Writer difilid@phillynews.com, 215-854-5934

Posted: Wednesday, July 15, 2015, 6:23 PM

EIGHTY AIRLINE workers in Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., have asked the U.S. Justice Department to investigate American Airlines and US Airways, saying bosses routinely use racial slurs, deny minority workers perks and training, delay or botch maintenance and repairs, keep dangerously faulty equipment in use and retaliate against complainers.

Attorney Brian Mildenberg filed safety complaints outlining the workers' claims in September with the Federal Aviation Administration and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. The agencies substantiated some claims, ordering the airline to correct violations.

Yet problems persist, Mildenberg charged.

He sent a letter Tuesday to Attorney General Loretta Lynch, asking her to send investigators to see safety violations firsthand. Besides endangering airline workers, the violations also imperil the flying public, Mildenberg warned.

He also urged Lynch to appoint a civil-rights monitor to ensure an end to racial discrimination.

"The largest airline in the world needs to be held to an appropriate standard," Mildenberg wrote.

An American Airlines spokesman denied the company has any safety or discrimination issues.

"The safety of our customers and employees is our highest priority," spokesman Ross Feinstein said. "The training procedures and equipment that we use have been recognized as the best in the industry and fully comply with government safety regulations.

"Likewise, diversity and inclusion are fundamental to our airline," Feinstein added. "Ours is a diverse workforce serving customers who are equally diverse, and we are committed to fostering a work environment that is based on collaborative teamwork and mutual respect. We will vigorously defend our company and the hardworking employees who provide top-quality service to our customers each and every day."

David Smith and Andre Roundtree, two of four named complainants in the FAA and OSHA filings, told the Daily News yesterday that they decided to ask the Justice Department to intervene only after years of getting no relief from the company or union leaders.

"We would go to management and complain [about safety and discrimination concerns], and we would be chastised or threatened or sometimes disciplined," said Roundtree, an American Airlines catering supervisor who lives in Overbrook.

Smith, an American Airlines fleet-service agent from Fern Rock, agreed: "Safety and discrimination are relative to one another. If they truly cared about the people working in the company, they wouldn't let them be exposed to this unfair, unsafe environment."

The alleged safety violations include:

* Repeatedly delaying repairs or maintenance of baggage, catering and other airline trucks and gear. For example, leaky hydraulics cause lifts to collapse and injure employees, leaving many petrified to use them. Roundtree recounted one incident last summer in which a lift he and a co-worker were using to deliver catering carts into the plane caught fire - while they were inside with no fire extinguisher and it was still far above the ground.

* Lavatory trucks, which remove human waste from planes, spill their goo onto the tarmac - sometimes daily.

FAA and OSHA investigating workers' complaints identified several safety violations, and OSHA in March fined the airline $11,000 for "serious violations." Those included broken windshields, headlights, taillights and horns on baggage trucks; unaddressed fuel spills that posed fire hazards; and defective or missing fuel tank caps on service trucks.

In his letter to Lynch, Mildenberg accused the airline of "hiding evidence" by storing faulty vehicles in a North Philly tow lot during OSHA's investigation.
The workers also complained of racial discrimination, alleging:

* Employees use racially offensive nicknames for various jobs or workplaces, such as referring to the tarmac as "Darfur," "the jungle," "the ghetto" and "work-release" because so many baggage, catering and ground-operations crew are minorities.
* Break and control rooms are racially segregated and nicknamed, and black workers get less desirable assignments and fewer overtime opportunities.

The workers calling for the investigation include maintenance, catering, baggage and customer-service workers and one aircraft mechanic.

Mildenberg said he has fielded similar allegations from American Airlines/US Airways workers in Baltimore, Miami, Atlanta, Dallas/Fort Worth and North Carolina but hasn't fully investigated those yet.

OSHA investigates the cooking without any A/C at Wendy's fast food restaurant in Kansas City, MO

Posted: Jul 14, 2015 By Laura McCallister, Multimedia Producer

By Emily Rittman, News Reporter

NORTH KANSAS CITY, MO (KCTV) -

During this week's extreme heat, a concerned customer captured what she calls unsafe working conditions at a fast food restaurant.

Employees at the Wendy's at 1208 Armour Rd. in North Kansas City were grilling and frying up food without air conditioning.

The week’s oppressive heat has been scorching the metro. Monday it felt like 115 degrees in the shade.

When the A/C went out inside the Wendy’s, people say the temperature reached about 120 degrees. Employees tried to beat the heat the best way they could with an employee even bringing in a fan from home.

“I said, ‘Are you serious?’ They said, ‘Yeah, we haven't had any air conditioning.’ I said, ‘It's got to be hot back there.’ The guy said, ‘Yeah, it's like 122 degrees,’” said Kemberly Creager, who reported the A/C outage.

She felt for the men and women in the Wendy’s kitchen.

“One gentleman got sick a couple of times that worked there. The lady at the front counter said she had passed out. Customers didn't want to stay,” Creager said.

The concerned customer went in search of the manager.

“I said, ‘Where is the manager?’ ‘The manager is not here.’ I said, 'Well why are you here?’ ‘Because if we leave, we will be terminated,’” Creager said of her conversation with the employees.

A spokesperson for the Wendy’s franchise said, “Employee welfare is extremely important to us. As soon as we knew the air conditioning broke, we worked to fix it. The air conditioning was out for two hours. No employees were forced to work.”

“I heard from another customer who was in town for a funeral that these conditions were going on since last week,” Creager said.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration sent an inspector to investigate a formal complaint.

“We understand units do break down. You need to get them fixed or you need to close your restaurant down,” Creager said. “Not only are you causing your employees to suffer and someone could be sick from it, you are also allowing people to perspire in food.”

The franchise spokesperson said they are meeting with management.

An OSHA spokeswoman said employers must protect employees from heat stress. They encourage water, rest and shade.

Texas has the Deadliest Roads, Work Industry: Workers Defense, OSHA investigating after death at East Austin job site

By Lindsay Bramson Published: July 14, 2015, 10:18 pm

AUSTIN, TEXAS (KXAN) –

On Tuesday, labor groups held a vigil for 28-year-old Ramiro Loa, a construction worker who died late last month. Loa fell three stories from the Eastside Station Apartments on East 4^th street.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration confirms the incident is under investigation. More importantly, The Workers Defense Project wants to do whatever it can to make sure accidents like this don’t happen again.

As Christian Hurtado prepared to honor 28-year-old Ramiro Loa he couldn’t help but think about the day he lost his father 11 years ago. His father was working construction in west Austin when he fell and died. To this day Christian says it was because of unsafe working conditions.

“From that time until now I haven’t seen any change in construction,” said Hurtado. “The structure wasn’t secure. It was still moving around. It was completely unsafe. Why was he doing this?”

Similar working conditions those with the Workers Defense Project say Ramiro was in. He was working on a site in east Austin when he fell.

“We went back and interviewed workers on the site and they didn’t even know one of their colleagues had died and even more tragic we found another worker working in the same conditions Ramiro was in when he passed away,” said Brigid Hall with The Workers Defense Project.

OSHA won’t comment that claim but does tell KXAN they are investigating the project’s developers, Maverick Framing and Flournoy Construction, regarding this fatality.

“What we see is that these deaths keep happening over and over again and the appropriate oversight is not happening to make sure construction workers are safe,” said Hall.

KXAN did reach out to Flournoy Construction and was told they had no comment.

The Workers Defense Project claims Texas is the deadliest state for construction workers. We checked it out and according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 116 construction workers were killed on the job in 2013 in Texas.

That’s more than any other state. Even California, with 12 million more people had only half as many construction deaths. Still when you take population fully into account, Texas is the 6th deadliest state. Texas is far behind North Dakota per capita which had 11 deaths that year.

Texas also leads the nation in traffic deaths with a death rate of 1.5 people killed per 10,000 residents. In other words, your chances of getting killed or injured while driving or working are much higher in Texas than in any other state.

Westerville, Ohio-based Kokosing Construction fined, cited for deadly Hopple bridge collapse in Ohio

A federal investigation found "inadequate" demolition plans caused January's fatal Hopple Street bridge collapse – and the company responsible for the incident has been levied a fine and cited for two major violations.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration on Wednesday fined Westerville, Ohio-based Kokosing Construction $14,000 for its role in the Interstate 75 overpass incident that killed 35-year-old foreman Brandon Carl of Augusta, Kentucky.

"This man and father of four died in a preventable workplace incident," OSHA area director Ken Montgomery said. "His family will never recover from that loss and the loss of livelihood. Kokosing Construction has taken steps to prevent a similar tragedy from happening in the future."

Independent bridge experts and Kokosing CEO Brian Burgett told The Enquirer in exclusive interviews soon after the incident that it appeared a flawed demolition plan played a key role in the overpass collapse. OSHA's report officially confirmed that was a major contributing factor to the bridge falling onto southbound Interstate 75 as crews prepared to tear it down the night of Jan. 19.

Here is a look at OSHA's report on the violation, which the agency called "serious:"

• The bridge "was not of sufficient strength to support the equipment due to an engineering error," according to the report. A trackhoe excavator, which weighed around 90,000 pounds, was on the bridge when it fell.
• The "engineering survey for demolition of the (bridge) was inadequate in that (it) did not account for the fact that it was a doubled hinged bridge," the report said.

"This is not surprising," said Richard Miller, a University of Cincinnati civil engineering professor who has provided ongoing analysis of the incident at The Enquirer's request.

OSHA considers a serious violation an incident when an employer knows of or should know of a situation that has a definite chance of causing serious injury or death, but does not remedy it. The maximum fine for a single serious violation is $7,000, which is what OSHA imposed on each of the Hopple Street violations.
OSHA and Kokosing have concluded separate investigations into the incident. The state's investigation is ongoing, and the Ohio Department of Transportation does not have a timetable for its completion.

"With OSHA issuing its report, we're going to want to get our evaluation concluded," ODOT spokesman Brian Cunningham said.

The state investigation is critical, considering Kokosing has long been one of ODOT's preferred contractors. In 2014, the company ranked No. 3 among the highest-paid contractors in Ohio, receiving $189 million in state taxpayer money, according to the state treasurer transparency website
ohiocheckbook.com.

Here at home, Kokosing is the lead contractor on Cincinnati's two highest-profile highway projects – the $91 million I-75/Hopple Street interchange overhaul and the new $101 million I-71/MLK Drive interchange. Both interchanges will provide the main interstate access points into Uptown, the region's second-largest jobs center.

In a separate report released Wednesday, OSHA also found Kokosing has made mistakes on the I-71/MLK Drive interchange. Kokosing was fined $5,000 for committing a "serious" violation while performing excavation work on the project. The violation was not related to bridge demolition.

OSHA cited and fined Kokosing because employees "were exposed to potential cave in hazards" while working in a 5-foot, 8-inch deep trench "without adequate sidewall protection," according to a report. Kokosing is building an entirely new interchange that requires a lot of excavation in Avondale and Walnut Hills in preparation for building new ramps and lanes.

Kokosing has long had a strong safety record, but the violations on the projects could lead to increased scrutiny. Cunningham said it would not be appropriate to discuss whether the violations will impact future business dealings between the state and Kokosing.

UC's Miller suggested Kokosing may already be facing increased scrutiny from OSHA. The Hopple Street incident might have prompted the agency to take a closer look at Kokosing's work on the I-71/MLK Drive interchange project.

"Kokosing has a really good reputation," Miller said. "But there's going to be pressure on OSHA to have a little more scrutiny on them. It's typical human nature when someone makes a mistake, you're going to keep a closer eye on them. As a dad, the first time your kid wrecks the car, you are extremely vigilant the next time he takes it out."

By most accounts, Kokosing has taken a closer look at itself. In February, Kokosing CEO Burgett said his company made mistakes and apologized for the incident. He promised Kokosing would make immediate changes to the company's bridge demolition policies.

Among those changes: An independent engineering firm would review and approve all of Kokosing's bridge demolition plans moving forward.

In April, Kokosing successfully demolished an old I-71 railroad bridge as part of the Uptown interchange work. Documents obtained by The Enquirer that month showed an Indianapolis-based engineering firm had reviewed and approved the demolition plan. It was Kokosing's first major bridge demolition in Cincinnati since the Hopple Street incident.

Kokosing has received praise from the public, bridge experts and government officials for taking responsibility for the bridge collapse and being proactive about making changes.

"We have already taken steps to make sure a tragedy like this never happens again," Burgett said Wednesday, reiterating what he said earlier this year. "We have ... conducted a top to bottom review of our safety procedures, and continue to conduct one of the most robust safety programs in the construction industry."

OSHA adds DuPont to severe violator list after recent inspections, leak

WILMINGTON, Del. —

DuPont has been labeled a "severe" violator of federal workplace safety standards following a second inspection of the La Porte, Texas, plant where four employees were killed in a massive gas leak last year.

The decision by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration means the facility southeast of Houston will receive additional scrutiny from inspectors. About 300 employees work there making pesticides and other chemicals.

In November, one worker was overwhelmed by methyl mercaptan, a toxic gas used to make jet fuel and insecticides, and later died. The gas was unexpectedly released when a drain was opened on a vent line, according to OSHA. Three co-workers who attempted a rescue died before the leak was brought under control two hours later.

OSHA in May cited the company for 11 violations at the factory, including not training workers to use the building's ventilation system, and issued $99,000 in a fines. OSHA also cited DuPont for "similar process safety management violations" at its Darrow, Louisiana, and Deepwater, New Jersey, facilities.

Following a second inspection, OSHA found eight violations at the Texas plant and fined the company $273,000, citing an "indifference" to creating a safe workplace. The company didn't properly inspect equipment, implement operating procedures or an have equipment safety plan, according to OSHA documents.

Regulators placed the company in the "severe violator enforcement program," which includes follow-up inspections to make sure the plant is in compliance with the law.

Dan Turner, a DuPont spokesman, said the company was "disappointed" in OSHA's classification.

"We have not had a chance to review OSHA's findings in detail," he said. "We will work with the agency to better understand the citations and any further required abatement. Operating the La Porte site safely is our number one priority. We have and will continue to take the necessary steps to ensure all units are safe to operate."

DuPont has 15 business days from the receipt of the citation to fix the issues, request an informal conference with OSHA's Houston South area director or contest the findings before an independent commission.

"DuPont promotes itself as having a 'world-class safety' culture and even markets its safety expertise to other employers, but these four preventable workplace deaths and the very serious hazards we uncovered at this facility are evidence of a failed safety program," Dr. David Michaels, an OSHA assistant director, said in a statement.

Kate Bailey, a spokeswoman for DuPont's safety consulting unit, disagreed with Michaels' characterization of the company's track record.

"Many of our clients have achieved significant reductions in their safety incident and injury rates as a result of our safety consulting services and this backed up by solid supporting data," she said in an email.

DuPont is the largest company among the hundreds included on the list. Thomas P. Fuller, who teaches at Illinois State University about workplace safety, said the listing is less about the fine and more about the negative publicity. The company has a market value of $66 billion.

"These fines are just a drop in the bucket to big companies," Fuller said. "A good company has a great safety program because they see the benefit of having strong public relations. OSHA is really little more than a paper tiger."

Once a company is added to the severe violator list, it cannot be removed until three years after a case is resolved. A case can be resolved if a company does not contest the claims, reaches a settlement agreement or if a review commission or court sides with the employer.

If a company opts not to contest the citation, it must pay all penalties, abide by all agreement provisions and not receive any additional serious citations at any plant throughout the country.

After recent deaths, inspections show that the Carolinas lack oversight of ziplines, swings

After two recent deaths, state lawmakers and safety officials in the Carolinas are starting to take notice of the need for regulation – or at least the study of the need for regulation – for the wildly popular “aerial amusement devices” such as ropes courses, pendulum swings and ziplines.

Neither South Carolina nor North Carolina has any regulations regarding ziplines, pendulum swings or ropes courses.

The attention in both states comes after two recent deaths from aerial amusement devices – one in which a 16-year-old girl attending a Brevard Christian camp in North Carolina fell to her death from a pendulum swing Monday on Sassafras Mountain in Pickens County, South Carolina; and another on June 11, where a 12-year-old girl died after falling from a zipline at Camp Cheerio, a YMCA camp in Alleghany County, North Carolina.

The pendulum swing that Olivia Paige Grimes, 16, of Lakeland, Florida, was riding on Sassafras Mountain “does not appear to meet the definition of an amusement ride in South Carolina. It is not a device that has been inspected by the Office of Elevators and Amusement Rides,” Lesia Kudelka, spokeswoman for the S.C. Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation, said. “However, that office is sending inspectors to the scene to find out more about the device.”

Dolores Quesenberry, spokeswoman for the N.C. Department of Labor, said the zipline at Camp Cheerio does not fall under the category of amusement rides or elevators, which are regulated and monitored by the department.

Both states’ labor offices, and the Pickens County Sheriff’s office, made clear that the accident on Monday was on a pendulum swing - something akin to a Tarzan rope - and did not involve a zipline. A zipline is a series of steel cables attached to trees or towers. Riders glide over the cables while strapped in a harness. Some ziplines have brakes, while some require riders to stop themselves.

Tuesday, the North Carolina House unanimously passed House Bill 39, which increases penalties for the illegal operation of amusement devices and directs the N.C. Department of Labor to study the regulation of zipline operations, which are exempt from state regulation. The bill, introduced by Rep. Ted Davis Jr., R-New Hanover, will go to Gov. McCrory for his signature.

Young Life Camps, a national organization that runs 32 camps across the country, has closed the 13 swings at the camps that have them, said Aleesha Mathis, marketing coordinator.

Two trade organizations – the Association for Challenge Course Technology and the Professional Ropes Course Association – have published standards for ziplines, along with challenge courses, for their memberships. The association has more than 26,000 members, said James Borishade, executive director.

He said while he’s still waiting to hear the inspection report and complete details about the accident on Monday, he doesn’t feel that having regulations in place would have changed or avoided the tragedy.

“For us, our heart goes out to the family who lost the child. As an industry leader, the ACCT is committed to the safety of every single patron or employee who gets on a ropes course or aerial adventure course, and is committed to ensuring that the industry continues to educate,” said Borishade, who is based in Chicago. “This industry continues to be a very safe industry.

The organization set the standard for the industry when it comes to ziplines and ropes courses, certifies inspectors, and accredits the builders. Ropes or challenge courses, have been around since the 1950s and ‘60s, he said, and ziplines started becoming popular in the United States in the early 2000s. The ACCT was established in the early 1990s. In that time, Borishade said, there have been “very few” deaths from zipline accidents.

“There is no industry that is above an accident, but it is imperative that every industry learn from an accident,” he said.

Rep. Davis, who was related to Bonnie Sanders Burney, the girl who died in the zipline fall at Camp Cheerio, said he first introduced the bill as a result of a 2013 accident at the N.C. State Fair where five people were injured on a ride called “The Vortex,” to increase penalties for illegal operations of amusement park rides.

The bill had easily passed both the House and Senate earlier this year, but after Burney was killed in June by falling from a zipline, Davis said he talked to his colleagues about adding a provision to study the need for zipline regulation.

“Sanders Burney was my fourth cousin. I would have done it regardless. I saw the pain and suffering her parents were going through, and it compelled me to go forward,” Davis said.

The bill calls for a six-month study of 13 criteria, including the number of ziplines in the state, whether any counties or cities regulate ziplines, the reasons that ziplines are excluded from state laws that regulate “amusement devices,” the number of reported accidents, an analysis of other states’ laws, and others. The deadline for the Department of Labor to file the report is Feb. 1.

“This is not a knee-jerk reaction, it will not be helter-skelter. It will be a well-thought-out, well planned endeavor, so we will come out with real good legislation to ensure the safety of those who ride ziplines,” he said. “I’m glad we have this legislation to get this done quickly. I’m fully confident the governor will sign it.”

There is no such pending legislation in South Carolina. Those loose-gooshy southerners.

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