Onyx Corporation, which owns and operates the Sterling quarry that was the site of a worker’s death in a collapse this week, said they have only had a “small number” of citations since 2019 and that “none were relevant to the particular work area or conditions that appear to have been involved in this accident”
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After a deadly accident at an industrial site in Sterling, Massachusetts, the NBC10 Investigators took a look at the company's safety record.
Brian Curtis Derby, a 67-year-old Townsend resident, was killed when a rock ledge collapsed on his excavator. Derby was a longtime employee of Onyx Corporation, which owns and operates the quarry where the collapse took place.
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The site falls under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Department of Labor Mine Safety and Health Administration, or MSHA. Federal investigators are on the site now trying to determine the cause of the deadly accident.
According to data from the MSHA, there have been 37 citations to Oynx since 2019, totaling $5,913 in fines.
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Onyx was cited as the violator on the majority of the citations. They ranged from faulty horns and backup alarms on equipment to reelection issues.
Three of those citations were issued just two months ago on June 24 and it said that fines have yet to be determined. One fo those citations involved the construction and maintenance guard for machinery.
"The company has received 37 citations since 2019, a small number over five years. The dollar amount of citations which can be issued by MSHA is based in part on their gravity and any potential negligence involved, with fines ranging from $164 per violation to $88,354 per violation; the largest dollar amount issued to Onyx was only $355," an Onyx company spokesperson told NBC10 Boston on Friday. "While the company takes any citation seriously, none were relevant to the particular work area or conditions that appear to have been involved in this accident.”
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Onyx has said that it would be closing all its locations through the weekend. Work at the Sterling site cannot resume until the town, which ordered a cease and desist The investigation into Derby's death is ongoing.
