MOUNT VERNON — A settlement has been reached between the Ohio Occupational Safety and Health Administration and Facemyer’s Backhoe and Dozer Services, which does business as FM Earth, regarding the construction accident at the Rolls-Royce facility in September. The accident resulted in the death of Roger A. Ferenbaugh, an employee of FM Earth, which was a subcontractor for Corna Kokosing Construction Co.
The settlement included a vacating of the first citation and an affirmation of the second.
“We settled with the company Dec. 10,” said Debborah Zubaty, spokeswoman for OSHA. “We gave an informal conference and we did vacate Item 1. ... They corrected the items — even though the item was vacated they did correct it — and the other citation was affirmed.”
The first citation stated that “the employer did not initiate and maintain accident prevention program(s) as may be necessary to comply with this part.”
The second citation stated that “the employer did not instruct each employee in the recognition and avoidance of unsafe condition(s) and the regulation(s) applicable to his work environment to control or eliminate any hazard(s) or other exposure to illness or injury.” This citation resulted in a penalty of $1,500.
“We issued our citation based on our investigation, which looked at everything,” Zubaty said. “All I can say is that we issued a citation and then as a part of the settlement agreement, based on information that they have and based on what we have, we decided that [the first citation] was vacated.”
According to the coroner’s report made by Dr. Jeffery Bowers, “[the] deceased was cutting culvert with a ‘concrete’ saw which kicked back, cutting his throat. Alcohol intoxication (0.13 gm percent in femoral vein) contributed to the injury.”
Ada Facemyer, a spokesperson for Facemyer’s Backhoe and Dozer Services, said the company has a zero tolerance policy regarding drugs and alcohol.
“We have a drug-free program through the VWBC,” said Facemyer. “We have a zero tolerance policy. [The] policy has been in effect for five years.”
Facemyer said the coroner’s report was not part of OSHA’s investigation.
“That is not our report, that is the coroner’s report, so that is something that we don’t comment on,” said Zubaty. “We do look at the coroner’s report, but that is all I can say since it is not an OSHA report.”
Facemyer confirmed all corrective measures have been taken by FM Earth.
“[OSHA] required that we document training for that machine,” she said.
Although FM Earth did not have documentation on Ferebaugh’s training with the Cutquik saw, Facemyer said he had been working with the machine for 27 years.
“He was trained — we did not have the documentation, but he was trained on that machine. He ran that machine for 27 years,” said Facemyer.
She said that FM Earth did conduct its own in-house investigation into the accident, but that information is not released to the public.
