North Carolina Ad Company Cited for Safety Violations in Billboard Accident

North Carolina state inspectors looking into the death of a Waynesville man impaled by a plastic stake after falling from a billboard found the company he worked for failed to give employees safety equipment.

The Asheville Citizen-Times reported Monday that Allison Outdoor Advertising of Sylva, N.C., which owns billboards across western North Carolina, must fix five safety violations by the end of April.

Also, the Citizen-Times reported that the N.C. Department of Labor, which investigated the Jan. 7 death of worker Kevin Newcomb, has proposed $1,700 in fines against the company.

Newcomb was working on a billboard on U.S. 64 near Murphy, N.C., when he lost his balance and fell 10 feet from the platform while unrolling vinyl. He landed on a plastic cable marker.

Information from: The Asheville Citizen-Times,
http://www.citizen-times.com