Florida Company Cited for Accident that Killed Three Workers
A company at Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale, Florida faces $88,200 in fines in connection with a cargo ship accident that killed three workers earlier this year. The company, Florida Transportation Services, denies wrongdoing.
Florida workers Hayman Sooknanan, 47, James Cason, 43, and Rene Robert Dutertre Jr., 25, died May 20, after inhaling argon gas that was leaking from a storage container aboard a ship they were working in. Argon is a colorless, odorless gas used for welding and in light bulbs. It's not toxic, but it can displace oxygen within a confined space. An autopsy by the Broward medical examiner determined that the three men suffocated.
On Friday, the U.S. Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) cited Florida Transportation Services for five alleged violations, including failure to properly train workers on how to detect the release of a gas such as argon.
But company owner John Gorman Jr. said his workers were properly trained. He said in a statement that ''FTS remains committed to the safety of all its employees. We look forward to meeting with OSHA to clarify information that may not have been considered in the investigation. In the meantime, we continue to think about the friends we lost, and keep their families in our prayers.''
OSHA said its ''proposed penalty''is $63,000. The agency put the charge in its "willful'' category, which is the most severe. Willful violations are those committed with plain indifference to, or intentional disregard for, employees' safety and health.
According to OSHA, the company also:
• Allowed ''non-designated persons'' to enter a hazardous environment.
• Loaded an argon tank with a damaged identification number into the ship.
• Didn't use an alarm system to warn workers about the gas leak.
• Didn't establish evacuation procedures to be used in this type of emergency.
OSHA described all four of these charges as ''serious,'' which means the agency thinks ''death or serious physical harm is likely to result from a hazard'' the employer knew or should have known about about. The agency proposed a fine of $25,200 for those alleged violations. However, OSHA often negotiates reduced fines with companies.
Friday's citations weren't the first OSHA has issued against Florida Transportation Services. The agency has fined the company more than $101,000 since 2006. In an August 2006 inspection, OSHA investigators flagged 19 safety violations at the company's Port Everglades operation, including a $1,500 penalty for exposing dock workers to potential ''crushing'' from trucks and forklifts around the docks. Less than five months later, on Jan. 6, 2007, 40-year-old worker Jorge Alberto was crushed between a concrete pole and a forklift unloading steel bars from a cargo ship. Alberto, of Hialeah, died five days later. Following Alberto's death, OSHA cited Florida Transportation Services for eight more safety violations, and the company was ordered to pay $80,780 in fines. The company has operated at Port Everglades since 1981.
News Source: Miami Herald
