ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, September 12, 1996 TAG: 9609130049
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: DUBLIN
SOURCE: LISA K. GARCIA STAFF WRITER
The state has issued a citation and $7,000 fine against Clayton Homes of Dublin for "providing an unsafe work environment" when a mobile home crushed a Floyd County in March.
Ronald Woods, 55, died when the home under which he was working slipped off two jacks and killed him.
Rescue workers lifted the home off Woods within 10 minutes using a hydraulic jack. They attempted cardiopulmonary resuscitation, but the efforts failed and doctors at Carilion Radford Community Hospital pronounced him dead.
The state issued the citation and fine Sept. 3, according to Dick Crawford, spokesman for the Virginia Occupational Safety and Health division. Clayton Homes has 15 working days to contest the citation and the fine.
Crawford said the citation was for the generally unsafe procedure used to level the mobile homes and not for a violation of a specific standard or rule.
The citation states: "The employer did not furnish employment and a a place of employment which were free from recognized hazards that were causing or likely to cause death or serious physical harm to employees [who] were exposed to a crushing hazard while conducting a temporary blocking operation to level a mobile home."
The 12-by-60-foot home fell off two, 1-foot wide hydraulic jacks holding it aloft, the citation states.
Crawford said investigations into four other workplace deaths in the New River Valley are continuing:
* Bartlett Tree Experts recently contested a $7,000 fine and citation issued by the state. Crawford said he sent the company a proposal and it has until Sept. 30 to accept or reject an adjusted fine. He did not reveal the details of the proposal. The company was cited for the Dec. 21, 1995, death of Alfred Cumbee, who was killed when a mower ran over a rope he was using to rappel down an embankment. Cumbee was cutting brush on Lynchburg Foundry Property in Radford at the time of the accident.
* Avis Construction Co. of Roanoke contested a $7,000 fine and citation issued by VOSH and Crawford said that citation is being reviewed. Timothy Edward Huff, 32, died Feb. 7 when he fell about 30 feet from a roof while working on an expansion project at New Energy Bedrooms in Christiansburg. The Christiansburg man was reportedly walking on steel roof beams when he misjudged the distance to the next beam while stepping backward. He hit his head during the fall and died immediately.
* Dewey Wayne Duncan, 27, died June 27 when he fell about 90 feet to his death from the roof of Virginia Tech' Cassell Coliseum. Three companies are being investigated by the state: AAR of North Carolina, Allen R. Neely Co. Inc. and Southern Personnel Services Inc. Crawford said the case is still being reviewed but he expects the results to be made public within two weeks.
* An investigation into the logging death of Richard Kulik, 39, of Christiansburg is ongoing, Crawford said. Kulik died Aug. 27 off Taylor Hollow Road in the Ellett Valley when a tree he was cutting hit him in the abdomen causing massive internal injuries.
LENGTH: Medium: 62 lines KEYWORDS: FATALITYby CNB