INTERNATIONAL PRECAST & STEEL ERECTORS INC.

According to U.S. Department of Labor enforcement records, INTERNATIONAL PRECAST & STEEL ERECTORS INC. — a industry sector 00 facility located at NAS, CORNER OF MIDWAY & GETTYSBURG, CORPUS CHRISTI, TX 78418 — was the subject of a formal OSHA inspection that resulted in 17 citation(s) and cumulative proposed penalties of $72,000.00. The inspection case was opened on 1995-06-21.

Federal investigators determined that one or more violations at this facility were committed willfully — meaning the employer either knowingly failed to comply with OSHA standards or acted with plain indifference to employee safety. Willful violations carry the highest penalty multipliers under the OSH Act.

State Context: Within TX, this facility's penalty places it at the 100th percentile among 119,485 inspected facilities. The statewide average penalty is $3,783.80.

Citation Analysis: The inspection produced 17 citations spanning 6 distinct OSHA regulatory standards. The citation breakdown includes: 4 serious — A workplace hazard that could cause death or serious physical harm exists, and the employer knew or should have known about the condition. 9 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 repeat — A substantially similar violation was found during a previous inspection and the original citation has become a final order. 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 December 19, 1995 with the latest abatement deadline set for December 29, 1995. Of the 17 total citations, 6 (35%) have been marked as abated in DOL records, which may indicate ongoing compliance gaps requiring further regulatory attention.

Penalty Assessment: The cumulative penalty of $72,000.00 reflects OSHA's gravity-based penalty calculation methodology, which considers the severity of potential injury, the probability of occurrence, the employer's size, good faith, and violation history. The per-citation average of $4,235.29 falls within the standard penalty range.

The enforcement record for International Precast & Steel Erectors Inc. reveals a catastrophic breakdown in fall protection protocols, characterized by a concentration of Willful (W) violations that signal a conscious disregard for employee safety. The assessment of a $72,000 penalty—extraordinarily high for the mid-1990s—reflects the extreme gravity of the hazards identified. The dominance of 1926.501 and 1926.502 standards indicates that workers were exposed to life-threatening falls from heights, likely during precast concrete or steel assembly, without adequate guardrails, personal fall arrest systems, or safety nets. The legal significance of the multiple Willful designations cannot be overstated; they transform the inspection from a routine compliance check into a demonstration of management’s intentional indifference or plain-to-see neglect of known hazards. Specifically, the citations suggest a systemic failure to implement a comprehensive fall protection plan, as evidenced by the lack of training (1926.1060) and improper equipment specifications. This was not an isolated lapse in judgment by a single foreman but a pervasive organizational failure to provide the foundational safety infrastructure required in high-risk structural erection. The presence of Repeat (R) and Serious (S) violations alongside the Willful charges underscores a historical inability to rectify hazardous patterns, placing the facility in a high-risk category for both catastrophic incidents and enhanced regulatory scrutiny.