Feds (OSHA) propose $1M in fines for fatal tunnel fire (could have been avoided )

[Omaha Steve]

Source: Denver Business Journal

The federal government on Monday proposed fines of more than $1 million against a California contractor and Xcel Energy Inc. for what it called a "preventable" chemical fire in a tunnel that killed five workers in October 2007.

The workers, employees of RPI Coating Inc., based in Santa Fe Springs, Calif., were working on a pipe connected to Xcel's Georgetown power plant when the fire broke out. Five men died and four others escaped the tunnel.

The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced Monday it was proposing to fine RPI Coating $845,100 and Public Service Co. of Colorado -- Xcel's Colorado subsidiary -- $189,900.

"This catastrophe could have been avoided if the companies had followed their critical safety procedures," Edwin Foulke Jr., OSHA's assistant secretary of labor, said in a statement.

Read more: http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/stories/2008/03/24/daily5.html

[strategery blunder]

1. How about a fine of one BILLION?

They'll just shrug off one million as "the cost of doing business" :grr:

[BreweryYardRat]

2. Beat me to it.

For punitive damages to have any effect, they have to actually hurt the company.