C.J. Plumbing & Contracting LLC, St. Louis, Mo.

The employer is contesting a four-item serious citation and a penalty of $13,304. The serious citation includes the alleged violations of 29 C.F.R.1926.651(c)(2), for failure to ensure that a stairway, ladder, ramp or other safe means of egress was in an excavation four feet or more deep so as to require no more than 25 feet of lateral travel for employees; 29 C.F.R.1926.651(k)(2), for failure to remove employees from an excavation where the competent person found evidence of a situation that could result in a possible cave-in, indications of failure of protective systems, hazardous atmospheres, or other hazardous conditions until ...