Labor & Employment Law Daily Wrap Up, OSHA NEWS—Employers face $641K in proposed penalties for electrical, trenching, fall, other safety hazards; 2 fatalities investigated, (Jan 9, 2025)

By Pamela Wolf, J.D.

Fatal injuries declined in 2023, but still, 5,283 workers lost their lives—one fatality every 99 minutes.

In separate developments, OSHA levied proposed penalties totaling $641,429 against companies operating in Alabama, Illinois, Maine, and Texas for electrical, trenching, fall, and other safety violations. One worker was fatally electrocuted; another died from crushing injuries when an unbraced retaining wall collapsed. The Bureau of Labor Statistics also reported that the number and rate of fatal injuries dropped in 2023.

Forman fatally electrocuted. OSHA cited Dexter Fortson Associates Inc. with seven serious and an other than serious violations, and proposed penalties of $84,789 after investigators found the Bessemer, Alabama, electrical contractor could have prevented a 44-year-old foreman’s electrocution during storm recovery efforts in Coaling, Alabama by taking critical safety measures to protect their workers. The foreman was part of the three-person crew employed by the company to restore distribution power to a series of natural gas pumps. While trying to replace a broken switch, the foreman suffered fatal electrocution from voltage in energized overhead power lines. OSHA inspectors later learned the switch was energized when the incident occurred.

Investigators determined the company exposed employees to electrical hazards when investigators found the employer: permitted use of expired electrical protective equipment; neglected to ensure workers’ ability to recognize and address electrical hazards before work began; failed to supervise workers and conduct inspections on an annual basis; did not provide adequate briefings on job hazards, work procedures involved, special precautions, energy-source controls, and personal protective equipment required; allowed live-line tools for work on live power lines that should have been removed from service every two years; let workers use tools within nine inches of an energized cutout switch and attempt to work on a broken cutout switch without ensuring that all equipment was properly de-energized as required by safety regulations; and failed to ensure equipment was de-energized. The agency also found that the employer failed to inspect the worksite to identify possible hazards before employees conducted repairs and maintenance in overhead power lines.

Crushed to death in retaining wall collapse. After investigators determined that Patriot Paving Group LLC’s decisions to ignore an onsite expert’s repeated warnings and the company’s own site-specific safety plan led to a fatal incident in June 2024, OSHA cited the Glenburn, Alabama, contractor with five willful violations and $161,325 in proposed penalties. An employee suffered fatal crushing injuries when an unbraced retaining wall collapsed at a Brownville worksite.

Two workers employed by Patriot Paving Group were installing storm drainage pipes in a three-to-four-foot-deep trench. At the same time, the company owner used an excavator near the retaining wall’s base, which destabilized it and caused a 40-to-60-foot-long section of the wall to tip over, according to OSHA. One worker escaped but the other worker suffered fatal injuries.

Investigators determined that the owner knew the wall next to the trench was unstable but did not use necessary protective systems or evacuate employees. The continuing excavation created clear and imminent dangers. OSHA cited the employer with willful violations for: not bracing the retaining wall and exposing employees to struck-by and/or caught between hazards; failing to remove employees from the trench after it was determined to be hazardous; and not training or instructing three employees in the hazards associated with trench activities.

Unprotected trenches. OSHA cited Bandera Utility Contractors LLC with $107,228 in proposed penalties after a July 2024 investigation in response to a formal complaint revealed employees working on water and sewer lines in a trench that lacked an adequate protective system, as required. Their activities included trench excavation, laser surveying, and work using hand and powered tools. In addition to a lack of protective system, OSHA inspectors noted that the Frisco, Texas, underground utility construction company failed to provide employees with basic safety measures, such as sufficient ladders in the trench, and a safe means of escape in the event of a collapse.

Prior fatality. In 2022, OSHA cited Bandera Utility for four serious violations of similar safety regulations after a 41-year-old employee repairing a sewer line suffered fatal injuries in a trench collapse.

Exposed to deadly fall hazards twice in three months. After investigators observed employees working without required fall protection while installing solar panels at two residential homes in the Chicago suburbs, one in Oak Park in June 2024, and another in Skokie in August 2024, OSHA cited Sunrun Installation Services Inc. of Des Plaines, Illinois, with two repeat violations and proposed penalties of $288,087. Falls from elevations are the leading cause of fatal and serious injuries in the construction industry.

The solar panel and battery storage company was cited previously for similar violations in Massachusetts in 2022 and New Jersey in 2023.

Fatal injuries down in 2023. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) in December 2024 released its 2023 Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries, which showed there were 5,283 fatal work injuries recorded in the United States in 2023—a 3.7 percent decrease from 5,486 in 2022. The fatal work injury rate was 3.5 fatalities per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers, down from 3.7 in 2022.

Assistant Secretary for Occupational Safety and Health, Doug Parker, called the BLS report “more positive news for worker safety and health.” He noted that in November, BLS reported a 20-year low in the rate of non-fatal worker injuries and illnesses in 2023, and said, “we are further encouraged by the news that the number and rate of fatal worker injuries also dropped in 2023.”

Parker believes “the Biden-Harris administration’s worker-centered approach of stronger enforcement combined with our numerous collaborations with employers and labor to embrace health and safety as core values are making a difference. Whether it is our enforcement initiatives, our promotion of workplace safety and health management systems, or our initiatives to support workplace mental health and safe driving and prevent worker drug overdoses, it all makes a difference in saving lives at work.”

The Secretary also pointed to a “meaningful decline in the number of fatal injuries to Black workers of 10.2 percent, and the rate for Latino workers dropped from 4.6 to 4.4 per 100,000 workers.”

But despite the promising trends, there is more work to be done, Parker urged, underscoring that in 2023, 5,283 workers lost their lives—a worker dies every 99 minutes. “Every worker’s death is a profound tragedy that leaves a lasting void for families, friends, co-workers and communities,” he said. “We can and we must do better.”

Comply or contest. Generally, companies have 15 business days from receipt of their citations and penalties to comply, request an informal conference with OSHA’s area director, or contest the findings before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

Companies: Dexter Fortson Associates Inc.; Patriot Paving Group LLC; Bandera Utility Contractors LLC; Sunrun Installation Services Inc.

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