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Construction Site Safety: Betting on OSHA violation

By Steve Lombardi

Alexamdra Berzon from the Las Vegas Sun Newspaper further explores the 6 deaths and numerous safety violations that have plagued the Perini Building Co. construction sites on the strip in Las Vegas. In June of 2008 when Dustin Tarter, a crane operator died the entire construction crew walked off the site to protest safety conditions.

Violations that OSHA found included “a pattern of improper fall protection systems, flammable materials stored incorrectly, risks of electrical shock, faulty equipment and problematic record-keeping. The conditions prevailed at various parts of the site and in projects run by subcontractors as well as general contractor Perini Building Co.”

Alexandra Berzon does a nice job of exploring safety issues at those constructin sites. Read her latest article, After 6 die, OSHA finds violations, Summer sweep by federal, state agencies uncovered dozens of serious problems at the Las Vegas Sun Newspaper.

The comments I find pretty interesting. Here are three that show the level of frustration the iron workers feel with the lack of serious safety enforcement they see being applied.

COMMENT: Emmitt Nelson, a former construction manager for Shell Oil who has conducted research for the Construction Industry Institute, said he's troubled that the 34 safety inspectors employed by Perini and others employed by subcontractors didn't spot and fix the safety problems before OSHA inspectors got to them.

I believe the issue at hand is that the 34 safety inspector's perini has employed,just aren't that good,to say the least.When i was both an ironworker and a safety Rep at the city center project,perini's people were never seen,unless there was an accident,they were less than versed in their own safety policy,let alone knowing the standards,bringing up any issue's with them was like pulling teeth,it was the "not in my yard so i'm not worried about it" scenario,even though it's their jobsite.They lacked in leadership skills all the way around from the top to the bottom,and the biggest thing i found were their basic disdain for the worker's,and, wanting to create animosity in the field for the worker's.

COMMENT: Did OSHA go through the site with a seeing eye dog? 42 companies on site and only 42 violations! And even then, they were either dismissed or the fines reduced. On a multi-billion dollar project, who cares about $66k?

If workers are waiting to be protected by Nevada OSHA, they will be waiting one long, long time. When you have 6 fatalities and then are still allowed to negotiate a $6800 fine down to $2200, why should Perini change anything?

And the unions are not without blame here either. Just try taking some disciplinary action like sending a guy home or banning him from the jobsite for safety violations and see how fast they are at the front door complaining!!

COMMONET: This is par for the course for the federal government - find problems only when they obviously exist and after the harm has been done. Same thing with the $50 billion pyramid scheme just uncovered. Finding it when they guy was starting it up is apparently too much to ask. Just be happy they didn't let it grow to $500 billion.

For more on this subject see, Is the Republican Party Dead? No, but the Wizard of Oz is alive and well. November 30, 2008 - 08:54 AM

Construction Site Safety: OSHA violations, another construction site backing over injury December 16, 2008 - 10:19 AM

Construction Site Safety: Preventing Falls July 03, 2008 - 11:33 AM by Brooks Schuelke.

Falls Prevalent At Construction Sites Posted by Jane Akre Friday, November 21, 2008 12:07 PM EST

Construction Site Safety – Trench boxes stop collapsing trenches from trapping workers November 22, 2008 - 08:59 AM

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Steve Lombardi

Full post as published by Des Moines Personal Injury Lawyer on December 19, 2008 (boomark / email).