Hugo-Based MasTec Cited for Safety Violations

A Hugo-based company was cited with two safety violations after an inspection that was conducted in March.  

MasTec North America, Inc., was given the citations last week by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration. The violations say the company exposed workers to “excavation hazards” during the installation of an underground conduit pipe in an unprotected trench in Muskego, Wis.

The company faces up to $108,500 in penalty fines.

OSHA Milwaukee-area director George Yoksas said in a statement that the company has a responsibility to make sure workers are protected from hazards like trench cave-ins.

The willful citation says the company committed the violation “with intentional knowing or voluntary disregard” for the law’s requirements, or with indifference to worker safety and health.

A repeat citation was also given to MasTec for similar violations at worksites in Colorado Springs in 2009 and San Antonio in 2010.

According to OSHA standards, all excavations five-feet or deeper must be protected against collapse.

Because of the violations, MasTec North America has been placed in the “Severe Violator Enforcement Program,” which includes follow-up compliance inspections, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

MasTec is headquartered in Coral Gables, Fla., and has a divisional office in Hugo, Minn.

To view the citations, click here.