OSHA Proposes $13K Fine After Nebraska Work-Site Death

Federal labor authorities have proposed fining a Kansas company more than $13,000 for a fatal work-site accident in Lincoln, Neb.

The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited Diamond Sawing and Coring LLC of Summerfield, Kan., following an investigation into a May 12 accident. The company has 15 business days to appeal.

Twenty-five-year-old Ryan Hitchler of Waverly died days after falling nearly 20 feet from a lift platform outside a hangar at the Nebraska Air National Guard headquarters in Lincoln. Another man, 21-year-old Preston Gibson of Merriam, Kan., also fell and was injured.

A National Guard spokesman said the pair were repairing a hangar roof when the accident happened.

OSHA called the accident preventable.

A phone call to the company’s publicly listed number in Kansas rang unanswered Thursday. A regional employee who answered at a second listing and said he was in Lincoln declined to comment.