Contractor Lawrence Martin, hired to demolish egg producer Hillandale Farms’ layer house in July 2022, is facing fines of over US$32,000.
The demolition resulted in the death of 53-year-old Jose Rojas-Flores, who was trapped under the fallen house for four to five hours before being rescued. The autopsy revealed that Rojas-Flores died of traumatic asphyxia.
Martin was operating as Cumberland Poultry LLC during the event.
Fox 43 News reported that after months of investigating the collapse at the egg producer’s Adams County facility in Pennsylvania, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) identified four safety violations:
- Not properly training employees who were driving powered industrial trucks, leaving them susceptible to accidents or injuries
- Using front-end loaders and similar pieces of equipment that were not specifically designed to support scaffolding platforms for that purpose
- Not requiring employees to wear protective helmets while working in areas where there was possible danger of a head injury
- Not having a "competent person" perform an engineering survey to determine the condition of the framing, floors and walls and the possibility of a structure collapse prior to allowing employees to start demolition
All the violations were classified as serious.
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According to OSHA, a serious violation is defined as when the workplace hazard could cause an accident or illness that would most likely result in death or serious physical harm.
Kevin Chambers, Area Director of OSHA’s Harrisburg, Pennsylvania office, told Local 21 News that only the contractor has been cited and fined, not Hillandale Farms.
He explained that OSHA has been discussing the case with the contractor and that he, after receiving citations, would have a 15-day contest period for follow-up conversations to decide whether to settle the case or take legal action. He added that OSHA and Martin were still in contest period.
Martin is required to pay the fines by February 23rd, 2022, or potentially face further charges. Martin is also required to notify OSHA when it has taken corrective actions and posted the citation for its employees’ viewing.
