By:Jayati Ramakrishnan
https://www.eastoregonian.com/users/profile/jayati%20ramakrishnan/
The Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Administration has determined that the safety violations of two companies led to the deaths of two workers at a Happy Valley music festival last summer.
OSHA has issued $31,000 in fines to Pickathon LLC and GuildWorks LLC after two workers died at the Pickathon Music Festival last August in a lift accident.
The workers, Brandon Blackmore and Brad Swet, were up in a boom lift taking down a shade installation at the Happy Valley music festival. The lift, which was on an incline, tilted and fell, killing the two men. They fell about 40 feet. The Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office said that the two were wearing safety equipment and were roped to the boom lift.
OSHA said two alarm devices on the boom lift had been disabled, one of which would have alerted users that the machine was on uneven terrain. The other would have stopped the platform from moving upward if an employee became pinned between the platform and something overhead. Each company was fined $12,500 for disabling the alarms.
OSHA also fined GuildWorks $6,000 for not following the instructions provided by the boom lift manufacturer — including not raising the lift while on an uneven surface, maintaining a firm footing on the platform’s floor at all times and not putting the lift in a raised position while the counterweight, used for balance, was on the downward side of a slope.
The agency said the investigation revealed that Pickathon and Guildworks had “a history of failing to follow proper safety procedures.”
“It is an employer’s responsibility to make sure that safety rules are followed for the very purpose of protecting workers from such tragedies,” said Michael Wood, an OSHA administrator. “This is a time to pause and remember that two people died, leaving behind family and friends. And it is a time to remind ourselves that this accident was entirely preventable.”
Blackmore had worked for GuildWorks for two years, and Swet had been an independent contractor with GuildWorks for seven years, according to a news release from GuildWorks in August. After the accident, Pickathon and Guildworks set up a fundraiser for the families of the two men.
https://www.oregonlive.com/clackamascounty/2020/02/osha-fines-companies-after-accident-that-killed-2-at-oregons-pickathon-festival.html