OSHA Cites Contractor at TVA Site Following Fatality

The U.S. Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has cited Day & Zimmermann NPS Inc., at the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) Cumberland City Power Generation Plant after a worker fell to his death on June 16. The agency is proposing $89,000 in penalties.

OSHA investigators reportedly found that on the day of the fatal accident, before the worker fell 82 feet to the floor below, Day & Zimmermann employees had climbed back and forth several times between an aerial lift basket and a raised platform without the use of fall protection equipment.

“This tragic accident could have been prevented if the company had followed the manufacturer’s safety instructions,” said Ron McGill, OSHA’s Nashville area director.

The company received one willful citation, with a proposed penalty of $70,000 for allowing employees to climb from an aerial lift basket onto a raised platform without the use of fall protection equipment. OSHA issues a willful citation when an employer has shown intentional disregard of, or plain indifference to, the requirements of the Occupational Safety and Health Act and regulations.

OSHA also issued three serious citations to the company, with proposed penalties totaling $19,000, for: failing to properly secure and steady a raised lift basket; allowing employees to work from the basket without requiring them to stand on its floor; and failing to adequately train employees and assure that they had the skill necessary to work from raised lift baskets.

Philadelphia-based Day & Zimmermann has 15 working days to contest the OSHA citations and proposed penalties before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.