15.03.2011

Notre Dame fined $77,500

The university of Notre Dame has been fined $77,500 for the scissor lift accident last year in which 20 year old Declan Sullivan was killed.

Declan was using the 50ft lift to video tape team football practice in winds approaching 60 miles per hour. This in spite of the fact that he had expressed serious concern before going up.

The state department of labor said that it investigated the accident and cited Notre Dame for “the most serious safety violation allowed under Indiana law”, claiming that the college “knowingly exposed its employees to unsafe conditions” for which it was fined $55,000.
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The fallen scissor lift

“The evidence overwhelmingly demonstrated that the university made a decision to utilise its scissor lift in known adverse weather conditions,” said Lori Torres, a department of labor commissioner.

Notre Dame president John Jenkins admitted in a statement that the university made mistakes in the events surrounding Sullivan’s death. “We failed to keep him safe, and for that we remain profoundly sorry. We will study the IOSHA report and take necessary actions to protect students and staff.”

Notre Dame was also fined $22,500 for five other serious safety violations, including failure to properly train student employees to use the lift and failure to give the equipment annual, monthly or weekly inspection for over a year.

Notre Dame has 15 days to either pay the fines and correct the violations or contest the report’s conclusions. John Affleck-Graves, the university’s executive vice president who led the school’s own investigation into the accident, said he would meet with government officials within the 15 day period and that the school will file its own report and findings. Click here to see the original accident report
The Notre Dame football team says that it no longer uses aerial lifts as filming platforms and that it would in future use pole mounted cameras.