The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration said Wednesday that it had cited a ship-building contractor after a welder suffocated while working inside a ship’s hull last year.
OSHA cited Palatka, Florida-based St. John’s Ship Building Inc. for four “serious violations” for exposing workers to oxygen deficiency by sending employees into a confined space without testing the oxygen content of the air inside the workspace.
The agency proposed $55,539 in fines. OSHA said the company has already contested the citation and proposed fines before the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.
The welder who died in August 2023 had been doing fabrication work in an eight feet by four feet space in a ship’s hull. Less than two hours after entering the space, a supervisor found the worker unconscious, according to OSHA.
The supervisor also became unconscious, and a third employee contacted emergency services. The welder died after being transferred to a nearby hospital, OSHA said. The other two employees recovered after receiving medical treatment.
In addition to the confined space violation, OSHA found St. John’s Ship Building exposed workers to struck-by and crushing hazards by failing to conduct annual inspections of six cranes on the premises.