Citations issued in fatal injury case vacated
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A Georgia judge has ordered that the citations issued against a Fort Lauderdale, Florida, shipyard for exposing employees to struck-by hazards that resulted in the death of an employee be vacated.
In July 2019, a yard foreman identified as GE had been operating a DAKE 70-ton hydraulic press when it ejected a metal bar that struck him in the abdomen. Shortly after, GE reported feeling sick to his co-workers and his wife, who immediately drove to the site and transported him to the hospital where he was rushed into trauma surgery and later succumbed to his injuries the next morning. The cause of death was “complications of blunt force injury” to his abdomen, according to documents in OSHRC Docket No. 20-0208.
GE’s employer, Rolly Marine Service Co., reported the incident to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration on the day of his death, and a fatality investigation began the day after. Based on employee interviews and security footage, the OSHA Compliance Safety and Health Officer conducting the investigation affirmed that GE’s blunt force injury was caused by the 70-ton hydraulic press and issued Rolly a two-item serious citation for exposing employees to struck-by, crush-by and amputation hazards. The proposed penalty was $13,260.
Rolly contested, and in court argued the employee interview statements to OSHA were hearsay. After several contestations, the court ruled all employee statements were admissible except for GE’s wife, who is also a Rolly employee. The court also concluded the OSHA secretary failed to define the hazards in terms of the physical agents that could injure employees, and instead, improperly defined it in terms of a particular abatement method.
Citing these grounds, the court ordered that both citations be vacated.
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