An administrative law judge for the United States Occupational Security and Overall health Overview Commission vacated two citations that were issued against a contractor after a worker died on the job.

Justin Smith was struck by a bulldozer that was going in reverse at a construction site in Saint Petersburg, Florida. Central Site Development L.L.C. was the site developer but Mr. Smith worked for a subcontractor that was hired to do underground pipe work.

An OSHA investigator was on the scene several hours after the incident and issued two citations to Central Site, one of which was a serious citation for exposing workers to a struck-by hazard and came under the general duty clause of the Occupational Safety and Health Act. They also received a record-keeping citation. Total proposed fines were $6,700. The judge determined that the investigator had not provided evidence that Central Site’s workers had been exposed to such a hazard, and called the inspector’s report “so vague it is meaningless”. Central Site’s own employees were not at risk according to the judge and so they could not be held liable under the general duty clause, and citations issued under the clause are not applicable to the multiemployer worksite doctrine. That doctrine can make a contractor is liable for violations that are committed by their subcontractor. The record-keeping citation was also vacated, since the judge determined that the department could not prove that a record-keeping standard was violated.

The Department of Labor had also alleged that an abatement strategy which is featured in a national consensus published by the American National Standards Institute and the American Society of Safety Engineers for work zone safety for highway construction applied to this case. The judge determined that they failed to show the proposed abatement method was feasible, and failed to show that it would have had an effect on the chance of injuries at this site.

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