A settlement has been reached in the case of two electrical workers who were killed when the crane they were working on toppled over in Bourne, Mass. The Bourne Enterprise reports that the agreement between OSHA and Massachusetts Bay Electrical Corp. of East Boston includes thousands of dollars in fines and contributions to a memorial scholarship, admitting to repeat violations of OSHA regulations, and extensive training of company employees.
The two men were killed in 2014 when their crane tipped over while they were working on a transmission line just off the highway. The men, both employees of Massachusetts Bay Electrical Corp., were working on a 345kV Eversource (then NStar) line extending across the Cape Cod Canal, when they fell 160 to 170 ft to their deaths.
The Bourne newspaper reported that the investigation by OSHA determined that Massachusetts Bay Electrical Corp. failed to set up and operate the crane according to the manufacturer's instructions. The federal workplace safety agency found that supervisors at the job site did not follow procedures for setting up and operating the crane in accordance with the crane's safety manual, even though the manual was in the crane and at the job site.
OSHA also determined that the company also did not train the workers in proper operation of the crane.
