The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has issued four serious violations to a construction company after an employee died in an excavation accident in Leland last summer.
On August 19, 2024, first responders arrived on Eagles Island in Leland after an amphibious excavator overturned and became submerged in the Cape Fear River. The Brunswick County Sheriff's Office identified the deceased as 26-year-old Austin Eugene Furner of Carolina Beach and determined the death was accidental.
In mid-December, OSHA fined Rigid Constructors LLC $50,703 for four serious violations in a single charge.
The citation and fine notice indicate that employees were not trained in the proper operation of the site-specific amphibious excavators on August 19; The employer did not provide employees with personal flotation devices or require them to use them. The employer did not provide employees with a life preserver or a 90-foot cord in case of an emergency. and a life-saving boat was not immediately available to employees working on or near water.
Dave Connolly, public information director for the Wilmington District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, previously told StarNews that Furner worked for Rigid Constructors, which contracted with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to work on an area of Eagles Island through the corps.
The work included maintaining an area used for disposal of material dredged from the river near Wilmington Harbor, Connolly said previously. When the accident occurred, Furner was “out and about” doing work that involved moving some pipes.
Initially, the North Carolina Department of Labor opened an investigation into the incident, but the case was later transferred to federal jurisdiction because the incident occurred on federal property.
The OSHA investigation took place between August 20, 2024 and December 11, 2024, according to the citation and penalty notice.
This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: OSHA issues fines after fatal excavation accident on Eagles Island in August 2024