25.09.2014

Contractor faces $168,000 fine

Boston based electrical contractor Mass Bay Electrical Corporation is facing a $168,000 fine following the fatal overturn of a truck crane.

The US Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited the company for two wilful violations and four serious violations following the death of John Loughran jr, 34, and Joseph Boyd, 34. Both men were working on a high-tension power line from an aerial work platform attachment when the Elliot crane truck overturned on 12th April – see: Fatal boom truck overturn.

An investigation found that the company had failed to set up and operated the crane according to the manufacturer's instructions and that its employees were not trained to operate the Elliot crane. The serious violations included not using load charts to determine the crane's minimum boom angle, not using an aerial lift, allowing the crane to operate at greater than 50 percent of the rated capacity for its configuration and for failing to conduct a trial lift of the platform prior to use.
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The overturned boom truck

Brenda Gordon, OSHA's area director for Boston and southeastern Massachusetts, said: “These deaths were preventable. The employer did not refer to or use readily available and necessary information that would have allowed this work to be conducted safely. This lapse placed two workers in harm's way and needlessly cost them their lives."