Broward company ‘ignored safety standards and a young worker has died,’ OSHA says
A Davie company that describes itself as providing “alternative erosion prevention and restoration services along shorelines and waterways” is accused of willfully not providing a safe workspace, resulting in the drowning death of a 22-year-old.
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety Health Administration has made the accusations against Marthinus Le Roux and Marysia Le Roux’s Erosion Barrier Installations. OSHA proposed $46,409 in fines on 16 citations, eight of which are classified as serious and two of which are classified as willful.
OSHA defines a willful violation as “a violation in which the employer either knowingly failed to comply with a legal requirement (purposeful disregard) or acted with plain indifference to employee safety.”
A Miami Herald phone message left for Erosion Barrier’s management about the citations, proposed fines and asking how the company will respond wasn’t returned.
When Erosion Barrier was working on the Stranahan River in the 6900 block of Northwest 18th Street in Margate on April 4, the Department of Labor said, “a young diver was removing sand with an industrial vacuum to restore an embankment project when sediment above collapsed onto him.”
The diver drowned.
The first of two willful violations OSHA found were the diver and dive tender “performing dredging operations in a canal with zero-visibility, did not have the experience and training in the use of tools, equipment, systems, techniques, and emergency procedures which are required to perform these underwater tasks in a safe manner.”
The second of the two willful violations, according to the Citation and Notification of Penalty, stated that “an employee was exposed to hyperbaric conditions while performing underwater dredging operations in a canal, without the dive team members being trained in diving related physics and physiology.”
OSHA Area Office Director Condell Eastmond said: “Erosion Barrier Installations Corp. ignored safety standards and a young worker has died. 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.”
