NAPLES, Fla. (Legal Newsline) — The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recently announced that it cited Douglas N. Higgins Inc., a utility company based in South Florida, over allegations that an employee at the company suffered fatal injuries on the job.
The employee suffered fatal injuries while he worked in a trench installing sewer lines, according to OSHA. A steel plate purportedly fell on his head while he worked. OSHA claims that the company failed to properly provide a safe place to work. The company allegedly allowed its employees to work in a trench that was not protected from potential cave-ins. Additionally, the company allegedly failed to provide a safe entry point to the trench, failed to perform atmospheric testing, and failed to train employees on proper signals for moving trench boxes.
“Employers have a responsibility to ensure a working environment free from recognized hazards,” Condell Eastmond, OSHA Fort Lauderdale area office director, said in a statement. “This company’s continued failure to protect and train their employees on well-known hazards resulted in another preventable tragedy.”