Company fined $14,000 in January fatality on UI campus

IOWA CITY - A Washington, Iowa, company has been fined $14,000 by the state after being cited for safety violations in a fatal construction accident Jan. 24 on the University of Iowa campus.

The Occupational Safety and Health Bureau of the Iowa Division of Labor Services issued one citation with six specific items, all listed as serious violations, to Iowa Bridge and Culvert, Inc. The original total penalty was $20,000, but that was reduced to $14,000 in an informal settlement agreement with the company, state officials said. Informal settlement agreements are common, with a reduction in the penalty amount when companies agree to fix violations, state officials said.

The construction accident on Jan. 24 killed Kevin D. Hammons, 52, of Washington, Iowa. Hammons was working with Iowa Bridge and Culvert to restore flood-damaged Art Building West on the UI arts campus. A steel beam fell on top of Hammons and pinned him to the ground near the building, where workers were working in an excavated area adjacent to a pond.

Among the violations, the state found that daily inspections of excavations, adjacent areas and protective systems were not made by a competent person for evidence of a situation that could result in possible cave-ins; that shield systems, support systems or other protective systems in the excavation area were not constructed in accordance with a design approved by a registered professional engineer; and that an inadequately supported wale system left employees exposed to struck-by and crushing hazards.

The Jan. 24 incident was the second construction-related death on the UI campus in recent months. On Aug. 30, a man fell 24 feet onto a concrete slab while working for an outside contractor on window installation at the Boyd Law Building.

Iowa Bridge and Culvert also was cited for nine serious safety violations in 2009 during another project near the UI.