OSHA: Berlin, NH Biomass Contractors Put Workers At Risk

OSHA: Berlin, NH Bio­mass Con­trac­tors Put Work­ers At Risk

- by Chris Jensen, Octo­ber 21, 2013. Source: New Hamp­shire Pub­lic Radio

Fed­er­al offi­cials say six com­pa­nies build­ing a bio­mass plant in Berlin have put work­ers at risk by not fol­low­ing safe­ty regulations.

The Occu­pa­tion­al Health and Safe­ty Admin­is­tra­tion pro­pos­es fin­ing the com­pa­nies about $280,000 for thir­ty-one “will­ful, seri­ous and repeat vio­la­tions of work­place safe­ty standards.”

“These haz­ards includ­ed poten­tial cave-ins, falls, scaf­fold col­lapse, crush­ing, expo­sure to lead and elec­tro­cu­tion haz­ards,” said OSHA spokesman Ted Fitzgerald.

Fitzger­ald said there were no seri­ous injuries or deaths.

The largest fine was $116,000 against the gen­er­al con­trac­tor, Bab­cock & Wilcox Con­struc­tion Co. which is based in Ohio.

Bab­cock & Wilcox’s first pri­or­i­ty is work­er safe­ty and the com­pa­ny does not con­cur with the OSHA find­ings “but will work close­ly” with the agency to “resolve these issues,” spokesman Ryan Cor­nell wrote in an e‑mail.

Cate Street Cap­i­tal of Portsmouth owns the Berlin facil­i­ty. A spokesman did not imme­di­ate­ly respond to a request for comment.

The next step is for the fed­er­al offi­cials to meet with the com­pa­nies to dis­cuss the cita­tions, Fitzger­ald said.

Fitzger­ald said OSHA inspect­ed the con­struc­tion site after receiv­ing com­plaints from workers.

He said the Berlin site was on a list to be inspect­ed but the com­plaints trig­gered an imme­di­ate visit.

A 2011 review of OSHA records by NHPR showed the com­pa­ny rarely vis­it­ed Coos unless there was a complaint.

For a list of com­pa­nies and cita­tions go here.