Verizon fined in connection with lineworker death - By Tamara Race, The Patriot Ledger, MA
OSHA fined Verizon $7,000 for operating a bucket truck too close to overhead power lines, $5,000 for failing to put out warning signs or flags in the work area, and $1,500 for failure to properly inspect equipment and tools prior to use.
Union officials say the fines were not enough.
“It’s not commensurate with what happened,” said Rand Wilson, communications coordinator for the AFL-CIO. “These were called ‘serious’ violations, but $13,500? Give us a break. That’s no incentive for Verizon to change its ways.”
Gibbons was the fifth Verizon worker to die on the job in two years, Wilson said.
Two of the fatalities were in Massachusetts and one was in Rhode Island.
Gene McLaughlin of International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 2322 in Middleboro had known Gibbons for more than 20 years and blames the company for the accident.