OSHA issues citations for power plant death
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The Occupational Safety and Health Administration on Tuesday cited three entities for worker safety failures following an investigation into a worker’s electrocution at a Tennessee coal-powered generating plant.
OSHA inspected the Tennessee Valley Authority Corp.’s Bull Run Fossil Plant in Clinton, Tennessee, in September after a 29-year-old industrial insulation installer was electrocuted after falling five feet through the top of a metal compartment and making contact with energized electrical equipment, the Department of Labor said.
OSHA found Williams Specialty Services LLC, TVA and GUBMK Constructors exposed workers to fall and electrocution hazards by not determining if the walking and working surfaces employees were working from had the strength and structural integrity to support them safely.
The agency also found Williams Specialty failed to provide safe access to elevated platforms and failed to initiate and maintain programs that provide “frequent and regular inspections by a competent person of the job site and equipment,” the DOL said.
OSHA cited Williams Specialty for one willful and two serious violations with a proposed penalty of $152,900. GUBMK Constructors was cited for one serious violation with a proposed penalty of $14,502. TVA was given a serious notice of unsafe or unhealthy working conditions.
