KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A federal agency has recommended fines of nearly $200,000 after an apprentice technician died of electrocution on a construction site in Kansas City last year — just a year after another technician working for the company was electrocuted at a construction site in Kansas.
The technician who worked for United States Engineering Services died on Aug. 24, 2022, when he contacted live parts while cleaning a refrigeration unit at the University Academy in Kansas City, Missouri, the l Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
An OSHA investigation found that the company failed to follow required procedures that could have prevented the death. The agency cited similar violations when another HVAC technician at the company was electrocuted while working on a rooftop air conditioning unit in Wichita, Kansas in July 2021.
OSHA sued US Engineering Services, a subsidiary of US Engineering, for three serious and two repeat violations and proposed fines of $197,642. The agency found similar violations after the worker’s death in Wichita. US Engineering Services paid the fines in that case.
The company has 15 business days to respond to OSHA recommendations. A US Enterprises spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.
