Greenwood Village-based Pipeline Industries Inc. has been cited with seven safety violations for allegedly exposing workers to cave-in hazards at two excavation sites.
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration said the work sites were in Wheat Ridge and Colorado Springs.
OSHA said in a statement that its Englewood-area office opened an investigation at a Garland Street work site in Wheat Ridge on Aug. 30 and a second investigation on Sept. 8 at a North Murray Boulevard site in Colorado Springs, following reports that workers were installing sewer pipes without adequate protection from possible cave-ins.
Pipeline Industries, which provides repair and replacement services for sewer, water and storm lines, has 15 business days from receipt of the citations and proposed penalties to comply, request an informal conference with OSHA’s Englewood area office or contest the findings before the Independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.
OSHA has proposed penalties totaling $180,180.
Among the allegations are two “willful violations;” two “serious violations;” and three repeated violations allegedly involving failure to ensure the spoil pile was placed at least two feet from the edge of the trench at each work site and to repair damaged ladders. A repeat violation exists when an employer previously has been cited for the same or similar violation of a standard, regulation, or rule at any other facility in federal enforcement states within the last five years.
“A trench can quickly become a grave when an employer fails to protect workers from trenching or excavation cave-in,” said David Nelson, area director of OSHA’s Englewood office. “The hazards discovered during these inspections are well-recognized within the industry, yet this employer chose to put workers in harm’s way.”
Howard Pankratz: 303-954-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com
