Firms face $56,000 in fines after fatal accident at Quincy shipyard

Two companies involved with dismantling the Goliath crane at Quincy's Fore River Shipyard face $56,000 in fines in connection with the accident that killed an ironworker last summer, the US Department of Labor said yesterday.

Inspections by the department's Occupational Safety and Health Administration after the Aug. 14 accident found several safety violations, and the federal agency said yesterday that it had issued "serious citations" to Norsar LLC, the Washington-based company overseeing the dismantling of the crane, and Sarens, the subcontractor that provided the jacking system used to support the crane.

A serious citation is issued when death or serious physical harm results from hazards the employer knew about or should have known about.

OSHA said federal inspectors found that the companies deviated from the original disassembly plan and chose to take off the crane's 160-foot long legs as single pieces, rather than in two 80-foot sections. Those changes to the plan, OSHA said, "exposed employees to crushing and struck-by hazards due to inadequate planning, failure to control movement, and failure to assure the structural stability of the leg during its removal. Excessive pull and push forces were applied to the leg, which shot out, severed its support connections, and crashed to the ground."

When the massive crane leg fell, it killed Robert Harvey, 28, an ironworker from Weymouth, and injured three others. Harvey's wife, Jennifer, filed a wrongful death suit against Norsar in September. The suit is pending in Suffolk Superior Court.

OSHA has issued five serious citations to Norsar and $35,000 in proposed fines. Sarens was issued three serious citations and $21,000 in proposed fines.

"The maximum fine is $7,000, and, in the case of Norsar and Sarens, the maximum fines were proposed for all of the hazards cited," said OSHA spokesman Ted Fitzgerald.

OSHA also cited a third company, Daniel Marr and Son Co., which had hired the laborers for the project, Fitzgerald said. Marr was cited for exposing employees to drowning and fall hazards by not providing guardrails, personal flotation devices, life vests, rescue skiffs, and fall protection. The South Boston company faces $12,000 in fines.

Paula Wiles, the human resources manager at Daniel Marr, said the violations were "general housekeeping issues" that OSHA found during its inspections and were "not related to the cause of the crane collapse or the fatality."

Each company has 15 business days to meet with OSHA officials or to contest the findings before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission. The citations were mailed Dec. 24, Fitzgerald said. Representatives from Marr met with OSHA officials on Monday, and representatives from Norsar are scheduled to meet with OSHA officials later this week, Fitzgerald said. By yesterday, OSHA had not yet received a response from Sarens, he said.

Gregory Nordholm, president and project manager for Norsar, declined to comment on the citations. He said his company was still working on relocating the crane, which has been a familiar landmark in Quincy for decades. The crane was purchased last year by Daewoo-Mangalia Heavy Industries, a Romanian company. Norsar was hired to take the crane apart and transport it to its shipyard in Mangalia, Romania.

Emily Sweeney can be reached at esweeney@globe.com.