Nov. 23, 2016
OSHA fines Hua Dua Construction, aPhiladelphia contractor, $72K for fall, trenching safety violations
Employer name: Dollar General, doing business as Dollar General Store #13229
Employer name:Hua Da Construction
917 Arch StPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania
Inspection site:934 Arch St.Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Citations issued: On Nov. 9, 2016, the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued citations for one repeat and one serious safety violations.
Inspection findings: An inspection began on June 10, 2016, after OSHA received a complaint alleging that Hua Dua Construction employees were exposed to fall hazards as high as 18 feet. An agency inspector arrived at the work site and found employees exposed to imminent danger fall and trenching hazards.
Inspectors cited the repeat violation for lack of fall protection. The company was previously cited for similar violations in March and May 2016. The serious violation involved exposing workers to cave-in hazards due to an inadequate protective system.
Quote: "Hua Da Construction continues exposing its workers to falls, the leading cause of death in the construction industry, and caught-in trenching hazards, one of the top four regularly cited construction violations," said Theresa Downs, director of OSHA's Philadelphia Area Office. "When construction contractors like Hua Da Construction repeatedly ignore safety standards, they jeopardize worker safety."
Proposed penalties: $72,511
The citations can be viewed at: https://www.osha.gov/ooc/citations/HuaDaConstructionInc_1154460.pdf
OSHA has a national emphasis program on trenching and excavations. Trenching standards require protective systems on trenches deeper than 5 feet, and soil and other materials kept at least two feet from the edge of trench.
The employer has 15 business days from receipt of its citations and proposed penalties to comply, request a conference with OSHA's area director or contest the findings before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.
To ask questions; obtain compliance assistance; file a complaint; or report amputations, eye loss, 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 Philadelphia office at 215-597-4955.
Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, employers are responsible for providing safe and healthful workplaces for their employees. OSHA's role is to ensure these conditions for America's working men and women by setting and enforcing standards, and providing training, education and assistance. For more information, visit http://www.osha.gov.
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November 22, 2016
OSHA issues more than $150K in fines to Don M. Barron Contractor Inc. of Louisiana for confined space violations after fumes sicken two workers
Employer Name:Don M. Barron Contractor Inc.
3600 Dick Taylor St.Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Citations Issued: Nov. 22, 2016
Investigation Findings: The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration responded to a report of unsafe working conditions May 17, 2016, after two employees of Don M. Barron Contractor lost consciousness and collapsed. The workers were exposed to hazardous gas while entering a sewer system. Federal safety and health investigators found the company allowed the workers inside a confined space without having tested the space for hazards.
OSHA issued citations for six serious violations and one willful violation. The agency also cited company for failing to maintain gas testing meters and rescue equipment, and for not training all employees in confined space entry.
Proposed penalties: $152,147
Quote: "Don M. Barron Contractor should never allow workers to enter a confined space without properly evaluating hazards inside the space," said Dorinda Folse, OSHA's area director in Baton Rouge. "This employer must take responsibility for making sure these types of injuries and the potential for loss of life do not happen again."
Link to citations: https://www.osha.gov/ooc/citations/DonMBarroncontractors_1152688.pdf
Information: Don M. Barron Contractor specializes in commercial buildings and utilities. The company 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 amputations, eye loss, 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 Baton Rouge Area Office at 225-298-5458.
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CHERRY HILL, N.J. (WPVI) --
A driver heading the wrong-way in Cherry Hill, New Jersey slammed head-on into a police cruiser.
It happened around 1:45 a.m. Saturday on westbound Route 70 between Ranoldo Terrace and Kingston Drive.
Police say the woman behind the wheel of her car, for some reason was traveling east in the westbound lanes.
The police officer in the cruiser traveling westbound had no way to avoid the vehicle, and they collided head-on.
The woman became trapped, and firefighters had to rescue her from the vehicle.
Both the officer and the woman were taken to Cooper Hospital for treatment and released.
The woman was issued a motor vehicle summonses and charged with Driving While Intoxicated.
A Pennsylvania man who led police on a chase that ended with a fiery crash that killed three people in another car was likely driving more than 100 mph and had a suspended license, police said in a criminal complaint filed Friday.
Demetrius Coleman, 22, of Pittsburgh, is charged with criminal homicide, vehicular homicide, and aggravated assault with a vehicle among other charges in the Thanksgiving afternoon crash on a busy highway about 10 miles southeast of Pittsburgh. He remained in UPMC Mercy hospital in police custody Friday and doesn't have an attorney listed in court records.
Coleman was pulled over by East McKeesport police about 2:30 p.m. Thursday for making an illegal turn, then sped away when officers learned he was wanted for violating his probation for a felony charge of possessing with intent to deliver drugs, the complaint said. Specifics on the drug charge weren't immediately available Friday because it was a court holiday.
Two adults and a toddler in the car Coleman hit at the intersection of U.S. Route 30 and state Route 48 were killed when it burst into flames. The crash scene, in North Versailles, was about 2 miles away from the initial traffic stop.
Coleman sped away from the convenience store parking lot where he was pulled over once officers turned up the drug warrant while checking his identification, the complaint said.
Online court records show Coleman was on probation for a 2012 drug possession case when he was charged with drug possession with intent to deliver in March. He was sentenced to jail, but then paroled and had his probation on the former case extended.
Accident reconstruction experts and other investigators on Friday were still piecing together the crash in which a second vehicle was also struck by Coleman's. Three women in that SUV were injured, but survived, police said. A female passenger in Coleman's vehicle broke her wrist, but was expected to survive.
Witnesses told reporters on Thursday the chase appeared to reach speeds at least double the 40 mph speed limit on Route 30, and Friday's criminal complaint more than confirmed that.
North Versailles Officer Norman Locke, one of the officers chasing Coleman, "at one point estimated the vehicle as exceeding 100 mph and he was not gaining on the vehicle at all," the criminal complaint said.
As Locke crested a hill, he could see the roof of Coleman's vehicle weaving in and out of traffic and approaching the intersection, where the light was red, the complaint said.
That's when Locke saw a "large fireball and the telephone pole was immediately sheared in half and flipped over," the complaint said. Police used a vehicle to push Coleman's vehicle away from the burning vehicle, where a man was found lying outside, dead, with the woman and child inside the burning wreckage.
The county medical examiner has yet to release the names of the victims.
Paul Trammel, who lives nearby and rushed to the scene when he heard the crash, said police "should have backed off" because "they would have eventually gotten the guy sooner or later. ... They had the guy's license plate."
But county homicide Detective Scott Scherer blamed Coleman for speeding away from the parking lot "with disregard to everything he does. He doesn't look, doing 30 or 40 mph out of the parking lot."
It wasn't immediately clear if the vehicle Coleman was driving was registered to him or someone else.
East McKeesport Officer Scott Lowden made the initial traffic stop, according to the complaint. Lowden's chief, Russell Stroschein, said the 17-year veteran has been placed on administrative leave, which is common in police incidents that result in fatalities
============ Couple and Their 2-Year-Old Daughter Killed in Crash After Police Chase on Thanksgiving
Alexia Fernandez 19 hours ago
A couple and their 2-year-old daughter died on Thursday after a police chase ended in a devastating crash near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Police identified the victims as 28-year-old David Bianco, 21-year-old Kaylie Meininger, his fiancée, and their 2-year-old daughter, Annika. They were on their way to a Thanksgiving dinner at a relatives house, according to family members who spoke to Channel 11.
A GoFundMe page was set up for the victims by their friends and family to help in their burials.
Driver Demetrius Coleman, 22, is now facing homicide charges. Coleman was pulled over by East McKeesport police at about 2:30 p.m. Thursday after making an illegal turn, then sped away after officers discovered he was wanted for violating his probation for a felony charge stemming from drug charges, according to ABC News.
Three other people were injured and transported to a hospital. Coleman is facing charges of criminal homicide, vehicular homicide and aggravated assault with a vehicle among other charges.
The second car Coleman hit involved an SUV in which three women were injured but expected to survive. The car containing two adults and toddler that Coleman hit burst into flames. It was about two miles away from the initial traffic stop.
Coleman had sped away from a convenience store parking lot where he was pulled over by officers, according to ABC News.
Authorities told Channel 11 News, a local station, that speeds reached more than 100 mph during the chase. The police officer who initiated the chase was placed on administrative leave per protocol.
