WASHINGTON—The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has fined an Oklahoma construction firm $14,100 in connection with the deaths of three men who fell from an Alltel Corp. cell phone tower in Arkansas earlier this year.
David Bates, an OSHA official in the Little Rock, Ark., office, said the fine was reduced substantially because of the small size of All States Construction Inc. and the absence of previous safety violations. One of the men who fell and died after a rope tied to pickup truck broke was the son of the man who runs the family-owned business. All States has until next week to challenge the citation.
Alltel and the general contractor, Houston-based GEM Engineering Co., were not held liable by OSHA.
Elsewhere, the OSHA office in Austin, Texas, is investigating a telecom tower fall last week in which two people died and one was critically injured.
The U.S. government says injuries and deaths in telecom tower business are occurring at greater rate than in any other industrial sector.
