A week after a contractor was killed by a falling crane near the EVRAZ steel plant in Pueblo, former employees said they raised concerns about safety issues at the job site months beforehand.
There are a number of projects going on at the EVRAZ steel mill site. One of them is being run by general contractor, Palmer North America which is overseeing crews as they build quarter mile expansion rail to be used by railroad companies. News 5 found that Palmer North America is registered in Delaware as a subsidiary of EVRAZ.
That long rail expansion job site is now under investigation by OSHA after a 32 year old contractor from Louisiana was killed Friday, October 20.
Rusty Singletary is one of the former employees who said he voiced his concerns about unsafe working conditions, sharing with News 5 the text messages he sent to those leading the Palmer project in Pueblo.
"When are you going to put safety above production," Singletary reads aloud. "'Wow, you'll kill someone on this job if you don't change things up.' And that was sent on September 26th," he said the text went unanswered.
Singletary was let go as foreman in his words for refusing to work in unsafe conditions. Hours after he left the job site he learned of contractor Pierre Warford's death.
"It could have been any of my crew. I've stopped my crew from doing [work] one particular day. A crane, it came over, swung it, almost hit the power lines over my guys. I had 20 guys working right under it. I said, 'We're out of here'," Singletary recounted.
He showed News 5 photos from the job site of numerous incidents he considers unsafe conditions, in the hopes of exposing the contractor's workplace safety culture so no one else gets hurt or killed.
We couldn't find a history of safety issues at Palmer North America, but OSHA investigators have responded to EVRAZ's Pueblo location seven times in the last 10 years. Three of thost instances were categorized as serious violations including citations of workers exposed to falls, incomplete inspections of cranes that could cause crushing hazards, and other violations like a crane's ladder being unsecured. Those three violations were reported in May of 2105, and May and December of 2016, according to OSHA's records.
"I think they have a culture where EVRAZ is a very good steel maker and not a good general contractor. It's a different world and they don't understand it," said Jon McClure.
McClure asked for a layoff from the Palmer project because it was unsafe, he said. But he's concerned for his two kids who still work there.
"It was a conversation at the end of the day walking out the gate, 'Well we survived another one.' The safety guy is okay with them flying a 50-ton load overhead but he's worried you have yellow rope around the ditch instead of red," McClure offered as an example of the working conditions.
In response to our request for comment on the safety allegations, EVRAZ sent us this statement from a spokesperson who said, “We are deeply saddened by the tragic incident that occurred last Friday, involving an employee from one of our onsite contractors. Our heartfelt condolences go out to the family of the employee. Currently, we are actively supporting the contractor as they work with OSHA to thoroughly investigate the matter.”
Palmer North America did not return our request for comment, however one of its seven lawyers we contacted said he' pass along our request.
Meanwhile, OSHA investigators confirm they are working with EVRAZ to investigate what led to the deadly crane accident.
Have a story you'd like News5 Investigates to look into? Send an email to News5Investigates@KOAA.com.
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