HL CROUSE CONSTRUCTION CO.
According to U.S. Department of Labor enforcement records, HL CROUSE CONSTRUCTION CO. — a construction facility located at KENOVA WVA - COLUMBUS OH, COLUMBUS, OH 43228 — was the subject of a formal OSHA inspection that resulted in 15 citation(s) and cumulative proposed penalties of $510,750.00. The inspection case was opened on 2003-05-20.
This facility represents one of the most severe enforcement actions in the OSHA SVEP database. Willful violations combined with penalties exceeding $100,000 indicate a pattern of deliberate non-compliance that poses an imminent danger to workers.
Industry Benchmark: The total penalty of $510,750.00 is more than 141.5× the national average of $3,609.14 for facilities in the Construction sector (NAICS 237120). This sector encompasses 532,749 inspected facilities nationwide with aggregate penalties totaling $1,922.8M.
State Context: Within OH, this facility's penalty places it at the 100th percentile among 91,405 inspected facilities. The statewide average penalty is $3,818.37.
Citation Analysis: The inspection produced 15 citations spanning 6 distinct OSHA regulatory standards. The citation breakdown includes: 6 serious — A workplace hazard that could cause death or serious physical harm exists, and the employer knew or should have known about the condition. 8 willful — The employer intentionally and knowingly committed the violation, demonstrating either an intentional disregard for the requirements of the OSH Act or plain indifference to employee safety and health. 1 other-than-serious — The violation has a direct relationship to job safety and health but is unlikely to cause death or serious physical harm.
Enforcement Timeline: Citations were issued beginning September 17, 2003 with the latest abatement deadline set for October 20, 2003. Of the 15 total citations, 0 (0%) have been marked as abated in DOL records, which may indicate ongoing compliance gaps requiring further regulatory attention.
Penalty Assessment: The per-citation average of $34,050.00 exceeds OSHA's FY2024 statutory maximum of $16,131 for serious violations, indicating the presence of willful or repeat classifications that carry enhanced penalty authority under Section 17 of the OSH Act.
The 2003 enforcement action against HL Crouse Construction Co. represents a severe indictment of the company’s safety culture, characterized by a staggering $510,750 penalty that far exceeded industry averages for heavy and civil engineering construction. The citation profile was dominated by seven willful violations, primarily centered on 1926.652(a)(1), indicating a deliberate and repeated disregard for trenching and excavation requirements. By failing to provide adequate cave-in protection across multiple instances, management demonstrated a conscious indifference to the life-threatening risks of soil collapse. The legal significance of these willful designations is profound; they suggest that the employer was fully aware of the hazardous conditions yet chose to bypass mandatory safety protocols, a posture that frequently triggers heightened scrutiny from the Department of Justice for potential criminal negligence if a fatality occurs. The systemic nature of these failures was further evidenced by serious violations regarding daily inspections by competent persons and the failure to mitigate water accumulation hazards. This was not a case of isolated oversight but a wholesale breakdown of the safety management system. The gravity of these violations, coupled with the sheer volume of willful citations, positioned this facility as a high-priority offender, signaling to the industry that the economic costs of non-compliance would be engineered to outweigh the perceived savings of bypassing critical shoring and sloping requirements.