Contractors Cited by Cal/OSHA for San Francisco Tunnel Fatality
The California Department of Industrial Relations' Occupational Safety and Health Division (Cal/OSHA) has cited two contractors for multiple serious safety violations after a worker was fatally struck by a steel beam while working on a light rail tunnel project in San Francisco last August. The agency is seeking a fine of $65,300.
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“Hazards associated with tunneling operations can include collapses, falling objects and breathable air pollutants,” Cal/OSHA Chief Juliann Sum said in a statement.
The two contractors formed a joint venture to work on the Twin Peaks Tunnel Rehabilitation & Rail Replacement project. The tunnel project included infrastructure rehabilitation, rail replacement, and modernization of signaling systems and other parts of the over 100-year-old tunnel.
Worker hit by beam
On August 10, 2018, employees were working in and around the tunnel with heavy equipment and tools. A worker operated a rail crane to push two flat cars loaded with equipment into the tunnel.
The crane's boom was in an upward, vertical position when it struck a steel beam above. The beam came loose from its brackets and fell about 13 feet, fatally crushing an employee walking nearby.
Cal/OSHA investigators concluded that the two employers failed to recognize the potential hazards of pushing two loaded flat cars into the tunnel and did not control the crane's movement to avoid collisions. Investigators found that the crane operators had not been trained to operate the equipment safely and that the workers had not been trained in safe procedures when the crane was operating near them.
Serious, accidental violations
Cal/OSHA is seeking proposed penalties of $65,300 for two serious and two serious accidental violations.
Major accident-related violations cited were failure to control the crane while in motion and the employer's failure to implement an effective Injury and Illness Prevention Plan (IIPP). The California IIPP standard is Cal/OSHA's most frequently cited regulation. There is no equivalent federal OSHA standard.
The serious allegations were made for two violations related to the employer's failure to safely transport workers in the tunnel.
Cal/OSHA classifies a violation as serious if there is a possibility that the actual danger posed by the violation could result in death or serious harm. Violations are classified as accidental if the agency determines that the violation caused injury, illness or death.
Cal/OSHA Division of Mines and Tunneling
Cal/OSHA's Mines and Tunneling Division investigates complaints about hazards and reports of accidents in mines and tunnels and issues citations when violations are found.
The agency's mining and tunneling division also:
- Conducts workplace safety conferences;
- Issues permits prior to any initial underground mining or tunnel construction.
- Conducts regular inspections of tunnels, mines and quarries; And
- Offers safety training.
Employers in California face stricter rules
Employers in California must meet stricter workplace safety and health standards than employers in other states.
State workplace safety programs must be “at least as effective” as federal OSHA programs, but states can and sometimes do have more stringent standards than federal standards.
In addition to the IIPP standard, California also has its own unique standards for:
- Diseases transmitted by aerosols,
- heat stress,
- Repetitive motion injury and
- Prevention of workplace violence in the healthcare sector.
