Authorities at the canal where a man died. {Credit: Margate Mayor Antonio Arserio}
By Kevin Deutsch
The U.S. Department of Labor has fined a company for numerous safety failures following the death of a 22-year-old diver working in Margate.
The worker, whose name was not made public, was working at the bottom of a Margate canal on April 4—removing sand with an industrial vacuum to restore an embankment—when the sediment above collapsed, leaving him trapped until he drowned.
An Occupational Safety and Health Administration investigation found the diver’s employer, Erosion Barrier Installations Corp. of Davie, failed to follow required safety standards. OSHA issued the company citations related to 12 violations, including:
Failing to train dive teams on equipment use, techniques, and emergency procedures; failing to ensure all dive team members are CPR-trained; failing to require an experienced dive team member supervise dredging operations in a canal with zero-visibility, and performing underwater dredging in a canal without a standby diver.
The company, which serves residential, commercial, and local government customers, also failed to provide employees with proper dive harnesses, federal investigators found.
OSHA proposed $46,409 in penalties to address the violations.
“Erosion Barrier Installations Corp. ignored safety standards, and a young worker has died,” said OSHA Area Office Director Condell Eastmond. “The company could have prevented this tragedy by ensuring dive team members had the experience and training needed before allowing them to do this dangerous work.”
“Commercial divers face a variety of hazards, and employers must not allow a dive to start until all workers’ safety is assured. The risks and the cost of failure are too great.”
OSHA also cited the company in April 2011 due to a fatal diving incident.
Operating throughout Florida and the Southeast, Erosion Barrier Installations Corp. provides shoreline and seawall restorations, erosion and retaining wall repair, dredging, culvert cleaning, and pipe inspections, according to OSHA.
The company has 15 business days from receipt of its citations and penalties to comply, request an informal conference with OSHA, or contest the findings before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.
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