The United States Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the Kamphuis Pipeline Company based in Grand Rapids, MI, have reached a settlement agreement that the excavating company will cease business operations and pay significant penalties for willful and serious violations of OSHA’s trenching and excavation standards.

The company will pay penalties of $509,071. The agreement resolved three OSHA inspections that were conducted at their worksites in September and October of 2017. Investigators found that the company repeatedly exposed employees to trench cave-in hazards while workers installed water metering pits and lines. The company also failed to follow other requirements for working safely in trenches and excavations.

The settlement requires the company to pay the penalties, voluntarily terminate all operations and dissolve the company’s corporate status in South Dakota. The owner and founder Daniel J. Kamphuis will surrender his North Dakota contractor license, and he and the company will not have any ownership or managerial interest in any construction business conducting trenching and excavating activities within the country in the future. They may engage in such activities in other capacities but will have to notify OSHA and take training if the resume such work.

“Workers in trenches must be protected to prevent deadly consequences,” said Loren Sweatt, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for OSHA. “This agreement demonstrates employers must take their responsibilities under the law seriously to protect workers.”

“This agreement sends a message that companies that want to do business in the trenching and excavation industry must operate safely and protect employees on the job site,” said Acting OSHA Regional Administrator Rita Lucero in Denver, CO.

Read the press release from OSHA here.