Houston Industrial Waste Company Death Probe

Chron.com reported in a January 4, 2010 article by Matthew Tresaugue that a Houston company with a history of neighborhood and official complaints has been fined nearly $1.5 million for alleged safety violations after an investigation into a death at an industrial waste facility.  In the article posted at http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/hotstories/6798145.html , Tresaugue writes that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) imposed the penalty against CES Environmental Services six months after an employee died when an explosion and flash fire at the Griggs Road plant knocked him from the top of a tanker truck that he was cleaning.  According to the article, the death was the third at CES facilities in less than a year.  As reported in the article, the company’s lawyer said it will fight the fines by the federal agency, which cited CES for 71 alleged violations in the fatality.  Labor Secretary Hilda Solis was quoted in the article as saying that “Employers should take steps to eliminate hazards and provide a safe working environment for their workers.”  The company’s president contends that the worker disregarded safety rules, but the deceased’s brother has complained that his brother was inadequately trained.  The work related death prompted a criminal probe by federal prosecutors and a lawsuit by the Texas attorney general that alleges 20 violations of state environmental laws.