1996 LLC: OSHA inspections and violations

Incident on Apr 17, 2009: Employee injures abdomen in scaffold collapse

On April 17, 2009, Employee #1, a carpenter, and a coworker were removing a circ ular work platform from the inside of a large concrete tank. The approximately 4 ft wide platform was approximately 35 ft above the floor and completely circled the tank wall. They removed all but the last section, each approximately 4 ft w ide by 7 ft long. A single scaffold that was 4 frames tall plus approximately 30 -in. of extensions had been erected directly below the last section of the work platform. The scaffold was not secured to the wall but was angled against the wa ll by extending the back adjustable legs. They could no longer use their ladder as this scaffold was in the way. They accessed the platform with an 8 ft extensi on ladder that was set on top of the scaffold to enable them to reach and comple te the removal of the work platform. The coworker, who had been working on the p latform, was using personal fall protection tied off up through the roof opening approximately 10 to 12 ft. Employee #1, who had been working from the ladder, c limbed onto the guard rail scaffold to assist. The coworker made several trips u p and down the ladder and was again climbing up when he felt something shift. He saw the scaffold moving away from the wall and the ladder sliding and falling o ut from under him. He observed Employee #1 fall over the front, unguarded edge o f the scaffold about the time the scaffold struck an inner tank wall that was ap proximately 15 ft from the outside wall of the tank. This was a large tank, 195 ft diameter, with a smaller tank inside of it. Employee #1 fell head first to th e second frame above the floor where he struck the inside x brace with his torso . He then lowered himself to the floor where he fell to a prone position. Employ ee #1 was hospitalized with an injured abdomen.

Incident on Jul 1, 2005: Employee is injured in fall from balcony

At approximately 1:45 p.m. on July 1, 2005, Employee #1, a drywall installer, wa s sanding the sheetrock ceiling of a third story stairwell. He was on a scaffold plank set across the stairwell opening when he stepped off the plank and onto t he balcony. When he stepped onto the balcony he apparently tripped and fell forw ard and fell off the balcony, falling approximately twenty four feet to the grou nd. Another contractor had removed the guardrail the day prior. Employee #1 was transported to a local hospital were he was admitted to the intensive care unit with several broken vertebrae.