The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has cited LandCoast Insulation Inc. for three alleged safety violations following six injuries and one employee fatality last November when a scaffold collapsed inside a boiler at Mississippi Power's Plant Daniel in Moss Point, Miss.
OSHA is issuing one willful violation with a $63,000 proposed penalty for substituting weaker, horizontal scaffold components in 14 locations. The agency defines a willful violation as one committed with plain indifference to or intentional disregard for employee safety and health.
Two serious citations are being issued with $9,000 in proposed penalties for the company's use of damaged scaffold components in the construction process and for failing to provide employees with effective training. OSHA issues serious citations when death or serious physical harm is likely to result from hazards about which the employer knew or should have known.
"LandCoast Insulation's substitution of weaker parts directly led to the structure's collapse and one worker's death," said Clyde Payne, OSHA's area director in Jackson. "This worker died and others were injured because the company improperly constructed the scaffold."
The company has 15 business days from receipt of the citations to comply, request an informal conference with OSHA's area director in Jackson or contest the citations and proposed penalties before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.
