BY STEPHANIE BRIEN
Journal Times | Posted: Friday, April 18, 2008 12:00 am
Four serious violations are alleged in the federal investigation involving the December trench collapse in Kenosha County that killed a Racine man.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued the Racine construction company A.W. Oakes & Son Inc. four citations totaling $16,800, according to OSHA documents.
Juan Oviedo, 52, of Racine, was killed Dec. 26 after a trench he was working in collapsed on him. He was installing a sanitary sewer line for the Town of Somers northwest of the intersection of Highway 31 and county Highway S.
He died after pressure from the fallen dirt and mud impeded his breathing, according to Kenosha County Medical Examiner Mary Mainland.
Oakes is scheduled to meet with OSHA Tuesday to discuss the allegations, said Kevin Hokson, a project manager for the business. He was not the project manager for that December project. He said they do have explanations for the allegations.
The citations state that the trench was not properly inspected; the protective system was inadequate; vital information was not onsite; and employees dug too deep
underground.
All four citations are classified as serious, which exists when the hazard "could cause injury or illness that would most likely result in death or serious physical harm." Those hazardous conditions constitute a serious violation unless the employer did not or could not have known about the violation, according to information from OSHA.
The citations were sent April 8. The company has 15 days from the date they received the citations to appeal
them.
"They are all alleged at this point," said Christine Zortman, assistant area director for OSHA out of Milwaukee.
If they contest the citations, OSHA officials will investigate to verify the company's claims that violations did not occur.
"We continue to ask more questions until we are satisfied it was done," Zortman said.
The investigation took over two months for OSHA officials to interview employees and thoroughly investigate the site, Zortman said.
One of the citations stated that the job site may not have had an adequate protective structure that could withstand a trench cave in.
Since that allegation was made, an outside contractor was hired to test the soil to ensure the proper shield was used, said Hokson. Test results showed that the structure was compatible with the area's soil type, he said.
The company was also cited for not properly inspecting the trench and digging too far below the protective shield.
Hokson said the business have documentation of inspections that they will be showing OSHA. "Our guys do a report every day," Hokson said. He also said the allegations that employees were digging too dig is only "speculation." "No one knows how deep it truly was," Hokson said.
There was only one violation Hokson did not fully contest. Federal regulations require manufacturers' specifications and recommendations about their protective shields be kept on site. But they are usually kept in the office, not the job site, Hokson said.
OSHA inspected the business twice in the past 10 years the company, but no violations were found, Zortman said.