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Engineer, general contractor and steel firm fined over New Orlean’s Hard Rock Hotel collapse

Fines of $315,536 have been issued to three firms that were working on the Hard Rock Hotel in New Orleans when it collapsed in October 2019, killing three people.

The fines were imposed by by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) on Heaslip Engineering for failures in design, design review and approval of steel bolt connections and Citadel Builders, a contractor, was issued with three violations related to inadequate escape routes from the structure.

The third company fined was steel fabricator Suncoast Projects, for failing to ensure the structural stability of the building.

Other subcontractors were cited for violations related to "emergency egress training, inadequate egress, fall hazard training and safety hazards".

Loren Sweatt, OSHA’s principal deputy assistant secretary of labour, said: "Employers must adhere to safety and health requirements to protect all workers on the jobsite. Failing to recognise hazards and implement necessary safety measures resulted in a preventable tragedy."

The firms that were cited have two weeks to comply or to contest the results.

Image courtesy of New Orleans Fire Department

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Comments

  1. They got off light considering the human catastrophe and the damage

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