EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH

APPEALS BOARD

Summary of Granite Construction Company – Decision After Reconsideration

Employer was cited for a serious violation of section 5158(e)(1)(c) for not having a method in place to retrieve employees from a confined space during a period when Employer’s employee entered a sewer manhole to re-caulk joints. Employer contended that the evidence did not support a violation. That argument was rejected by the Board. The Board found that the evidence established that the existing ventilation was insufficient to remove dangerous air contamination which may have developed and that since the manhole was so narrow that a ladder had to be removed so that a worker could work inside the manhole, ready access or egress of a suddenly disabled employee would have been difficult.

GRANITE CONSTRUCTION COMPANY, 01-3946
February 28, 2003