OSHA releases devastating report on Boise hangar collapse

BOISE, Idaho — The OSHA investigation into the collapsed hangar at the Boise airport has concluded. OSHA’s field director told me that Big D Builders was cited for one willful violation and three serious violations of federal safety regulations, and they have proposed nearly $200,000 in penalties and cited Inland Crane for exposing workers to the risk of collapse.

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• OSHA’s six-month investigation into Boise Airport hangar collapse concludes
• Big D Builders and Inland Crane Company were issued citations for serious violations.
• The OSHA report concluded that the serious accident could have been prevented.

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(Below is a transcript of the broadcast)

David Kearns is the regional director of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and was very direct in the wording of the report. “I would say it was a very strong statement, anytime a tragedy like this happens and it can be prevented, we feel that very strongly.”

Big D Builders was cited for one willful violation and three serious violations of federal safety regulations and ordered to pay nearly $200,000 in fines for exposing workers to the risk of an inland crane collapse.

Kearns added. “Our investigation has shown that from the moment they first lifted the first part of the structure, everything was not right, it was a bit wobbly, cables were snapping, and they continued to work on putting more and more parts of this building up, and as the weeks went on it just kept getting worse and worse, and our huge concern is that they didn’t get that first part right and they kept building, exposing the workers, and unfortunately the end result was that the whole structure collapsed.”

Big D said it had no comment on the report or its findings due to ongoing legal proceedings. However, Inland Crane sent us this statement.

“OSHA recently informed Inland Crane that their investigation supports our initial assessment that neither Inland Crane employees nor the equipment were responsible for the hangar collapse. Inland Crane extends its sincerest condolences to all those affected by this tragic incident.” Inland added that the proposed citation is for employee exposure, not causation.

The most important point that Director Kearns wants to make is, “When you have so many lives lost, so many people injured, so many lives turned upside down and for two, three days you have the signals that something is wrong, it’s time to stop, it’s time to stop, we have to figure out what to do to fix it, and unfortunately that didn’t work out here.”

Both Big D Builders and Inland Crane may appeal the OSHA report. Enrique Serna, a lawyer representing the families of two of the three victims, will hold a news conference in Boise tomorrow. Serna named both companies in a lawsuit filed a few weeks ago that also included two other companies.