SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO AM) It was expected, but now it's official.
Hultgren Construction, on Friday, announced it will contest the OSHA citations in the collapse of the downtown Sioux Falls building the company was re-modeling.
Co-owner Aaron Hultgren, in an email statement to KELO.COM News, said that the proposed penalties of over $100,000 will also be challenged. Hultgren did not further comment.
OSHA says the company willfully disregarded safety precautions that could have prevented the fatal collapse last December. According to the citations, Hultgren failed to tell workers how to install a temporary support system as they removed load bearing walls at the old Copper Lounge building on Phillips.
A construction worker died in the collapse and a woman who lived in an apartment above was buried in the rubble for hours.
A company that provided temporary labor for the project, Command Center, was also cited and fined by OSHA and had previously announced it would contest the citations.
