State Cites East Bay Construction Company In Job Site Death

BAY AREA, CA — The California Division of Occupational Safety and Health has cited a Concord contractor for eight job safety violations, including one that caused the death of a worker in San Rafael in September. San Juan Landaverde-Olvera, 59, of San Rafael, died Sept. 18, 2018 when he was crushed by a falling vertical stack of plywood at a construction site in the first block of Fair Drive.

The Marin County coroner's office said Olvera was seated on top of piled lumber planks, which leaned against the vertical plywood boards beside him. The boards shifted and fell on Olvera, and workers found him in cardiopulmonary arrest from traumatic injuries. He died at the scene, Chief
Deputy Coroner Roger Fielding said.

According to Cal/OSHA, the contractor, West Coast Land and Development Inc., did not follow regulations when it stacked plywood vertically without securing it.

"Unsecured plywood, drywall, and similar material stacked vertically create life-threatening hazards to employees," Cal/OSHA Chief Juliann Sum said. "As this tragic incident demonstrates, employers should store the materials flat or ensure the materials are secured when stored
vertically to prevent serious and even fatal injuries."

The state agency cited West Coast Land Development $26,540 for a serious violation of stacking plywood sheets vertically without securing them against tipping or falling.

Serious violations also were issued for the contractor's failure to guard an opening on the house's second floor to prevent employees from falling through it, failing to protect workers from the hazard of impalement on exposed reinforcing steel projections, and failing to protect workers from falling when working on elevated surfaces at heights of more than 15 feet, according to Cal/OSHA.

A serious violation is cited when there is a realistic possibility that death or serious harm could result from the actual hazardous condition.

The company also was cited for a regulatory violation of failing to obtain the construction-related project permit, and with general violations for failing to evaluate worksite hazards and protect workers from loose rock or soil at an excavation site and failure to provide handrails and stair rails along unprotected sides and edges of stairways.

West Coast Land and Development Inc. did not respond to requests for comment Thursday afternoon.

Bay City News Service