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A Minnesota painting contractor was fined $189,000 for workplace conditions that led to an employee falling 37 feet and onto another worker during a Ross Island Bridge painting project.

The Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Division (Oregon OSHA) released the of its investigation into Abhe & Svoboda Inc. (ASI), which was hit with nine violations for its role in the Feb. 8 accident.

At around 8:15 a.m., ASI employee Marco Lilly was air-blasting on a 鈥渜uick deck鈥� workspace underneath the bridge when his feet became tangled and he fell through a ladder opening onto a temporary bridge platform. He hit fellow employee Christopher Montiel, who was working at the base of the access ladder. Both suffered multiple injuries and were transported to a hospital.

Lilly is listed in the accident report as 40 years old, and Montiel, 32. Montiel is also listed as Lilly’s son. Both have Renton, Washington, addresses, and both were with the company less than two months at the time of the accident. Calls to listed phone numbers were not answered, and ASI spokesman Tom Stockert said the company would not clarify the men’s relationship or comment on their injuries.

ASI has been the target of frequent union protests since the accident.

鈥淯nfortunately for the press and your readers we do not feel these issues are best played out in the court of public opinion,鈥� Stockert wrote in an email. 鈥淭here have already been too many inaccuracies and presumptions conveyed which do nothing to improve workplace safety on our sites or any other sites.鈥�

ASI is under contract with the Oregon Department of Transportation to repair, blast, sand and paint the underside and structural supports of the Ross Island Bridge. The $22 million project is intended to remove lead paint and add five coats.

Lilly was not protected by a fall-protection system, as required by Oregon OSHA, according to the investigation report released this week. Oregon OSHA estimates ASI exposed eight additional employees to the same hazard.

鈥淓ach violation, though different in detail, involved the same grave problem: a failure to protect workers from falls that would seriously hurt or kill them,鈥� Oregon OSHA’s statement reads.

The investigation report found the company failed to: provide proper access to work areas, properly construct and install the scaffolding system, effectively deploy a 鈥渃ompetent person鈥� or provide rest platforms for employees climbing 37-foot ladders.

The report also mentions ASI’s corporate safety manager speaking 鈥渄ismissively鈥� of Oregon OSHA, saying he chooses to follow national workplace safety rules because Oregon’s change too much.

The company recently completed similar projects on the Hawthorne Bridge and the Astoria-Megler Bridge.

Few companies on ODOT‘s list of prequalified contractors were large enough to complete the Ross Island Bridge project, ODOT spokesman Don Hamilton said. But in light of the investigation, the department will consider removing ASI from the list or suspending it.

鈥淲e’re looking very closely at this report and considering our options,鈥� he said.
Established in 1969, ASI calls itself on its website one of the 鈥渓argest and most trusted鈥� industrial painters in the country.

鈥淲e believe that when this all shakes out a more realistic view of our company and more specifically the Ross Island Bridge project site will emerge,鈥� Stockert wrote.