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OSHA, Hi-Rope form alliance

New York – The Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s   Manhattan area office and Hi-Rope Corporation of New York
  formed an alliance to foster a culture of safety, share best practices and increase   technical knowledge about preventing falls in hazardous occupations.

The industrial rope-access system is designed with a self-rescue component   that can be used in a variety of elevated work environments, such as construction,   steel erection and bridge painting. HRC will train OSHA personnel and industry   safety and health professionals in the proper use of industrial rope access   and tensioned-netting systems.

Under the alliance, OSHA and HRC will encourage employers that use industrial   rope-access and tensioned-netting systems to participate in cooperative programs   offered by OSHA, including compliance assistance, voluntary protection programs,   consultation and the Safety and Health Achievement Recognition Program.

Firm fined for cave-in hazards

Buffalo, NY – An Alden, N.Y., construction contractor’s failure to protect   workers against a potentially fatal cave-in at a Batavia job site resulted in   $73,800 in fines from the U.S. Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health   Administration.

Concrete Applied Technologies Corporation, doing business as CATCO, has been   cited for alleged willful, repeat and serious violations of the Occupational   Safety and Health Act at a water-line installation site located at Routes 5   and 63 in Batavia.

OSHA issued a willful citation, with a fine of $63,000, to CATCO after an inspection   found three employees working in an excavation more than six feet deep that   was not adequately protected against collapse.

“Unprotected excavations are among the deadliest hazards in construction   for workers,” said John Henshaw, assistant secretary of labor for occupational   safety and health. “An excavation’s sidewalls can collapse without warning,   burying workers beneath tons of soil before they can escape. That’s why it’s   imperative that employers supply this basic, common sense and legally required   safeguard.”

Two repeat citations, with a total fine of $9,200, were issued for failing   to provide a safe means of exiting the trench and for failing to inspect the   excavation and adjacent areas for hazards before employees entered the trench.   OSHA cited CATCO in January 2002 for similar hazards at a Depew, N.Y., work   site.