OSHA Inspection: INSITUFORM TECHNOLOGIES, INCORPORATED

Issued

Jun 6, 2002

Abate by

Jun 18, 2002

Penalty

Initial $4,500 · Current $2,250 Reduced

General-duty citation text

Section 5(a)(1) of the occupational safety and health act of 1970:  The
employer did not furnish
employment and a place of employment which were free from recognized
hazards that were
causing or likely to cause death or serious physical harm such as hot
water burns to employees
in that the employer did not review entry operations when the measures
taken under the permit
space program did not account for communications deficiencies that existed
prior to the confined
space entry:
Job Site: Wensley Street.
Employees were exposed to serious hot water burns while working in the
downstream
manholes where the company did not have an established communications
procedure
between crew members to prevent untimely entry into the manhole. An
employee was
seriously burned on May 17, 2002 during an untimely entry into a
downstream manhole
when a failure of the badder caused several gallons of hot water to rush
down
the line
onto the victim.
One method of abatement, among others, would be to establish a procedure
such as
reiteration and authentication of instructions between crew members.