OSHA cited a Georgia plumbing contractor for an incident involving an employee who suffered a fatal fall while clearing a blockage at the end of a pipe.
Inspectors found that the contractor didn’t have a confined space entry program and failed to test for dangerous atmospheres before allowing workers to enter the pipe.
The employee was part of a three-person crew that was assigned to replace a sewer line when they encountered a blockage. They determined that the blockage was at the end of a pipe in the 60-foot-long trench that had been dug to expose the sewer line. To get to the blockage, someone would have to enter the pipe through a nearby manhole.
One employee decided to enter the manhole to clear the blockage. However, a short time after entering the pipe, the employee fell about 20 feet. They died from injuries related to the fall as well as exposure to a high atmospheric concentration of hydrogen sulfide gas.
A local fire department used a gas monitor to test the air inside the manhole and found the presence of the gas at 1,910 parts per million (ppm). OSHA’s permissible exposure limit for hydrogen sulfide gas is 20 ppm. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) said that 100 ppm of the gas is considered immediately dangerous to life or health.
Fine: $184,387
Company: K & D Plumbing Inc., Silver Creek, Georgia
Business: Plumbing, heating, and air-conditioning contractors
Reasons for fine:
One willful violation for failing to:
- develop and use a permit space entry program
Six serious violations for failing to:
- include a safe means of egress in a trench that was 4 feet or more in depth
- prevent employees from working in trenches that had accumulated water
- keep excavated materials at least 2 feet from the edge of excavations
- have a competent person perform inspections of excavations, adjacent areas and protective systems
- protect employees in excavations by using adequate protective systems
- perform pre-entry atmospheric testing
