OSHA finds improper load rigging caused fatal worker injury in Lincoln, Nebraska

Employer name: CBS Pilings Solutions Inc., Riverside, Missouri

Citations received: Oct. 14, 2015

Investigation findings: The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration's Omaha Area Office cited the drilling contractor for three serious safety violations, after a 42-year-old worker was fatally injured on a job site in Lincoln, Nebraska on June 24, 2015.

The worker was struck in the head by a piece of rebar that fell from a crane. The company was drilling foundation holes for a building under construction and he was cleaning the area around the top of a hole when the incident occurred.

OSHA cited the company for:

• Improper rigging of the load.
• Failing to train workers in struck-by hazards associated with working around cranes and suspended loads.
• Not removing all non-essential employees for the fall zone during crane operations.

Quote: "Deaths like this, which are entirely preventable, happen all too often in the construction industry — and they have tragic consequences not just for the workers but for their families and communities," said Jeff Funke, OSHA's area director in Omaha. "Employers must train workers about these hazards and ensure only qualified riggers are attaching crane loads for over-head operations."

Proposed Penalties: $14,700.

View Citations here.