Legal Issue

Legal Issue

Q1: What was the legal issue in this case?

The term OSHRC is an acronym of Occupational Safety & Health Review Commission which is an independent federal agency. It is established to decide the contests of penalties or citation that result from the OSHA inspection of U.S workplace. The legal issue related to the case R. Williams Construction Co. v. OSHRC is of violation of Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA). R. Williams Construction Co. filed petition to review the order of OSHRC. The order affirmed the OSHA violation in when the trench collapsed and claimed life of an employee and leaving another severely injured at a construction site in Santa Yenz, California (caselaw.findlaw.com, 2006).

The incident happened on September 19, 2002 when a trench collapsed in Santa Yenz, California. The collapse became a cause of death of William's employee Adam Palomar while leaving another employee Jose Aguinia severely injured. Williams use many submersible pumps to extract the ground water from the trench. The water could also be pumped from above the trench but cleaning it from inside was a common practice (Walsh, 2012). Adam and Jose were responsible for cleaning the pumps on any given workday without being provided with specific instructions.

Q2: Explain what the employer did or failed to do that violated the OSH Act.

An investigation was conducted by OSHA and cited company for workplace safety violations. The company was charged with violation of four citations. The first citation 29 CFR 1926.21(b) (2) charged Williams with failing to provide its employees instructions regarding the identification and avoidance of hazardous conditions along with the regulation that are appropriate for their work environment (OSHA, 2011). The second citation charge the company with not ensuring that nine of the employee should travel more than 25ft in order to reach a safe point of exit, needed by the regulation (OSHA, 2011). Williams violated 29 CFR 1926.651(c)(2) because in the wake of safety measures, it may become vital for workers, who are working less than 25ft distance from an egress point, to travel from the exit point to an appropriate one in order to complete their job (Walsh, 2012). These conditions make it obvious that such workers are already working within a danger zone and will be exposed to serious danger.

29 CFR 1926.651(k) (1) is the third citation which charged Williams for failing to guarantee a “competent person” to conduct this job (Walsh, 2012). According to the regulation the employee must be equipped with particular training for analyzing soil and protective systems along with having abilities of recognizing dangers (OSHA, 2011). He must perform daily inspection of mines for finding any possibility of dangerous conditions. 29 CFR 1926.651(j) (1) is the citation of fourth violation (Walsh, 2012). The company was failed to ensure that the walls of the trench be supported or sloped (caselaw.findlaw.com, 2006). According to the standards, suitable protection is needed to be provided to the workers to protect them from loose soil or rock which may pose a ...