Wayne-Based Company Fined $57K By OSHA

A Wayne-based water and sewer pipeline construction company has been fined for exposing its employees to a hazardous work environment, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration announced Thursday.

Employees for Anrich Inc., headquartered on South Gulph Road in Wayne, were working in a trench without cave-in protection during a project for the West Branch Regional Authority, OSHA said.

The company has been fined $57,750 by OSHA.

OSHA said it launched an investigation in June in response to a complaint.

When OSHA inspectors responded to the job site, they said they found Anrich employees working in an unprotected excavation approximately 14 feet long, 10 feet wide and more than 7 feet deep, without cave-in protection and with no safe means of exit. Additionally, due to rain that day, water was observed accumulating in the excavation, as well as flowing from an existing pipeline, OSHA said.

“Without the proper precautions to prevent cave-ins or safe means of exit, a trench can easily become a grave,” said Mark Stelmack, director of OSHA’s Wilkes-Barre Area Office. “Employers are responsible for ensuring that effective safety measures are in place and in use before their workers enter a trench.”