The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit upheld a job safety citation against a Louisiana scaffolding company after a worker’s fall arrest system collapsed and he was dragged to the bottom of Galveston Bay in Texas and drowned.
A three-judge panel denied Walker, La.-based Excel Modular Scaffold & Leasing Co.'s appeal and agreed with an administrative law judge’s conclusion that Excel’s failure to provide a lifesaving skiff—a shallow flat-bottomed boat—"exposed Excel’s employees to a substantial probability of death or serious injury, which is amply supported by the record.”
“For at least a year, company Excel crew members worked ...