SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO AM) - OSHA handed down a second set of citations against Hultgren Construction in the fatal Copper Lounge collapse in December and the federal agency charges the company with tasking employees with removing two adjoining load bearing walls between the ground level and first floor.
Department of Labor spokesman Scott Allen says the second citation charged Hultgren with not ensuring there was a comprehensive plan for demolishing the load bearing wall to include an engineering survey to prevent an unplanned collapes.
Allen says the two latest citations are willful. He says the citations were issued to Hultgren because of "plain disreguard to OSHA standards and regulations. For directly the cause of this indvidual's death."
Hultgren has fifteen days to contest the citations and the penalties of over $100,000 dollars.
The citations also state that Hultgren employees were not instructed on monitoring methods to the stability of the building during demolition. "This condition exposed employees to struck-by and crushing hazards."
The citation also finds Hultgren did not instruct employees on a safe method for removing a brick wall. The were allowed to start at the base of the wall section and work upward toward the ceiling, "allowing large sections of the brick wall to fall onto the floor of the two buildings. This process affected the safe carrying capacity of the the floors."
24-year-old worker Ethan McMahon died when the building collapsed in downtown Sioux Falls December 2.
