OSHA fines crane owner $7,500 after investigating summer accident

A Beaufort construction company was fined $7,500 last month by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration after the company's crane collapsed on two houseboats at Palmetto Bay Marina over the summer.

An inspector from OSHA's Atlanta office cited Beaufort-based Atlantic Marine Construction Co. for six alleged safety violations, which an OSHA spokesman said created an environment in which the crane's boom, or arm, smashed through Cindy Holland's houseboat, landing just feet from a couch she was occupying.

"OSHA issues a serious citation when death or serious physical harm is likely to result from a hazard about which the employer knew or should have known," said the spokesman, Michael Wald. "If the OSHA standards had been followed, these hazards would not have existed."

"I'm not going to make any comments," said Atlantic Marine owner Dan Schultz. He has until Tuesday to appeal the citations.

OSHA documents state that Atlantic Marine removed safety devices on its crane called "boom stops," designed to stop a boom that loses its grip on what it's lifting or pulling.

Atlantic Marine's crane was tugging on an old dock piling when a cable on the crane that was coiled around the piling slipped off, launching the boom like a catapult arm. The boom crushed the crane's cabin, tore into Holland's boat and damaged another boat owned by Troy Conner.

Tom Barth, a Goose Creek crane consultant and inspector, said it's extremely unusual for a construction company to remove boom stops, which act like shock absorbers, from a crane.

"I've never seen this before. You have boom stops for just this reason," Barth said.