Firm Faces $122,500 In Safety Violations

Sat., Jan. 22, 2000

Federal regulators on Friday proposed fining a Spokane-based company $122,500 over alleged workplace safety violations involving aerial platforms and scaffolding at a job site in Sandpoint.

Inspectors from the Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration began investigating Northwest Handling Systems Inc. after an accident that injured two workers, said Ryan Kuehmichel, OSHA area director in Boise.

The company has 15 working days to contest the fine and three citations.

Ron Miller, Northwest Handling’s Spokane branch manager, declined to comment.

Regulators accuse Northwest Handling of endangering workers by improperly using an elevating work platform.

Those alleged violations resulted in two willful citations, in which the employer is accused of knowing about a hazard without making a reasonable effort to correct it.

A serious citation - a less severe penalty - involved allegedly improper use of scaffolding.

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Firm Faces $122,500 In Safety Violations

Jesse Tinsley

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