A Tucson company was fined $21,000 by the state for violations at a work site where a wall collapsed and killed one worker and critically injured a second.
The Arizona Division of Occupational Safety and Health found that Taylorβs Demolition & Recycling Inc. committed three βseriousβ violations on Aug. 21, 2015, at a site for a city road-widening project. The company has the opportunity to appeal the fine.
A wall collapsed on a building being demolished at 314 E. Grant Road, just east of North Sixth Avenue. The wall toppled onto two workers, killing Stephen Curtis, 54, and critically injuring Travis C. Peterson, 33, according to state documents.
The violations, as listed by OSHA, were:
- Not instructing each worker to recognize and avoid unsafe conditions, and knowing regulations applicable to his work environment to control or eliminate any hazards or other exposure to illness or injury.
This resulted in employees not trained in the recognition and avoidance of unsafe conditions and the regulations applicable to demolition hazards.
- Permitting workers in any area which can be adversely affected by demolition operations when balling or clamming is being performed. Only those workers necessary for the performance of the operations shall be permitted in this area.
This resulted in three employees working in an area where demolition was taking place where the center wall of the building had weakened and collapsed.
- During the demolition, no continuing inspections by a competent person were done as the work progressed to detect hazards resulting from weakened or deteriorated floors, walls or loosened material. Employees were permitted to work where such hazards existed, and the hazards were not corrected by shoring, bracing or other effective means.
A work crew was using an excavator during the demolition. The excavator was operated by Eric Taylor, the foreman and president of Taylorβs Demolition.
Curtis and Peterson were working by the east side of the wall while Taylor was operating the excavator on the west side.
Taylor told the state investigator that he had not noticed anyone working on the east side of the wall while he was doing the demolition.
Taylor was among the workers who cleared the rubble to get to the men and told another worker to call 911, according to the documents.
The state investigator asked Taylor if he had conducted training meetings for employees and he said he had meetings with them, but he did not have documentation of those meetings.
When an investigator interviewed Peterson at the hospital, Peterson said he had worked three weeks for the demolition company. He said he had been watering the area west of the wall to control the dust and then went to the east side of the wall.
He said he grabbed a shovel and went to help Curtis, who had worked for Taylor for about eight months, to clean the edge of the walls to make it easier for the excavator operator. Within minutes of working next to the center wall, it collapsed on them, he said.
The documents also state Peterson said he did not receive job training, and Taylor, the owner, did not review a demolition plan for the building with the crew.
Rather, Taylor said his plan was to have the building on the ground by the end of the day.
On the day the wall collapsed, most of the rubble had been removed when firefighters arrived at the scene, Capt. Andrew Skaggs of the Tucson Fire Department said shortly after the incident.
Firefighters pulled the workers from the rubble. Curtis was pronounced dead at the scene and Peterson was taken to Banner-University Medical Center, where he underwent surgery.
The state investigator, George Hall, asked Taylor during the inquiry if he had a demolition plan for the project and Taylor initially said he did not.
Taylor initially said he did not have a written safety program or other documents, including a written hazard communication program, workplace hazard assessment or equipment maintenance records.
Taylor told Hall he did the maintenance on the equipment but did not keep records.
Two months later, Taylorβs attorney, Charles P. Keller, sent a letter to the state investigator saying documents could be provided, and said Taylor carried a safety manual in his truck and gives employees two safety documents, which are a condensed version of the manual.
Keller could not be reached for comment on the findings Thursday.
The citations were issued Tuesday and the company has 15 days after it receives the documents to appeal.
The city of Tucson bought the building March 26, 2015, as part of the Grant Road widening project, Mike Graham, a spokesman for the cityβs transportation department, said shortly after the accident. The purchase price was $210,000.
The red brick-and-cinderblock building was constructed in 1953 and was 2,320 square feet.
Taylorβs Demolition was hired by the city to tear down the building and others for the widening project for $61,042, according to state documents.
