Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, June 14, 1994 TAG: 9406140369
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium
State inspectors slapped Dorey with a $68,000 penalty, citing eight safety violations. But a Norfolk judge dismissed the case, saying the state's occupational safety law was unconstitutional.
Last week, the Virginia Supreme Court heard arguments in that case and another Dorey apprentice's death in 1992. A ruling is expected in September.
While the cases drag on, relatives of the two men are angry.
``Dorey has gotten by with murder twice. There's no other way to put it,'' said Hales' mother, Sandi Hales of Chesapeake. ``If you and I had committed a crime, we'd go to jail. Yet this company can just go on and make money.''
In the other case, Scott J. Roberson was run over by a concrete truck.
``It's a shame they get to walk away without paying a penny,'' said Larry Glindeman, Roberson's father-in-law. ``It's a shame when you know no one will be punished for it.''
Donald Dorey, president of the company, declined to comment on the cases. But his attorney, Guilford D. Ware, denied that the company was at fault.
Late at night on May 1, 1990, Hales was standing in a dark, wet manhole at Norfolk International Airport. State safety inspectors said there were no work lights, only a defective flashlight held by a foreman.
There were four electrical cables in the manhole, two of them live. The foreman had a probe to detect which cables were live and a key to turn off the current, but didn't use either, the state said.
Hales cut a main runway lighting cable at the foreman's direction and was electrocuted, the state said.
Roberson, 23, died on Feb. 12, 1992, when, the state contends, Dorey supervisors told a concrete truck to back quickly across two lanes of highway traffic to the opposite side. Roberson was the spotter for the truck, but was not wearing a safety vest so he could be seen easier, the state said. He was hit by the truck.
``All of these citations are allegations,'' Ware said. ``There's never been a hearing on them. They have not been proven. They are strictly allegations. Dorey is not a slipshod employer. They are very safety conscious.''
Hales, 25, had worked at Dorey for almost four years.
In both cases, the state Labor Department cited Dorey for safety violations and levied penalties. Prosecutors also indicted the foreman in the Hales case, but the charge was later dismissed.
The company argued that Virginia's occupational safety law was unconstitutional and that it gave too much power to the state Safety and Health Codes Board without spelling out specific safety standards.
Circuit Judge John C. Morrison Jr. agreed and dismissed the cases.
While Dorey has not been penalized, Ware said companies always are affected by an employee's death. ``It's as devastating to the employer as it is to the employee,'' he said.
' job was to cut and splice a cable for taxiway lighting. Instead, he
when Dorey supervisors ordered the driver to speed backward across two lanes of Interstate 64, the state contends
by CNB