Last June, a center city building collapsed in Philadelphia. The collapse killed six and injured 19 employees and shoppers. The building fell on an adjacent Salvation Army Thrift Store. After an initial review, it was found that critical wall supports had been removed from the four story building three days prior to the collapse. Further, the contractor who was operating the heavy equipment when the building collapsed was cited for negligence.

All told, the fines for Griffin Campbell, the demolition contractor whose company was hired to knock down the old building, totaled $313,000. There were additional fines totaling $84,000 levied against Sean Benschop, the operator of the heavy equipment which was involved in the building collapse.

The citations for Campbellwere largely focused upon the “willful, egregious violations” of OSHA standards, according to David Michaels, theUS assistant secretary of labor. There were additional citations for a lack of hard hats, issues with adequate training, fall prevention, and fall protection.

If you are in the construction industry and have any questions regarding how your worksite is run and the processes you have in place, it is a good idea to get a full third party safety audit from a qualified OSHA compliance consulting firm.

If you would like more information about third party safety audits, please contact us. If you have anything  to add about OSHAs citations against Griffin Campbell and Sean Benschop, or if you would like to add something regarding the importance of a third party safety audit, please leave a message.