Last Thursday, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration announced proposed fines of $16.6 million against 3 construction companies and 14 contractors involved in the construction power plant explosion at Kleen Energy Systems LLC in Middletown, Connecticut last February.  The fines are the third highest in history for a single workplace accident.

The accident occurred during the cleaning of a supply line using flammable natural gas.  Six workers were killed in the accident and fifty were injured.

OSHA decided on the fines based off 371 complaints of workplace safety violations, including 225 considered to be willfully done.  U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis stated in regards to the violations, “No operation and no deadline is worth cutting corners and costing a single human life”.