OSHA fines landscaping company after employee death

A Boise landscaping company was fined $9,054 by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration for the accident on Boise’s Hewlett Packard campus that killed 65-year-old Antonio Barroso Garcia, of Nampa.

OSHA cited Trautman Lawn & Landscape Company on July 31 with a “serious” violation, setting an abatement deadline for Aug. 24. Garcia died May 23 at the former HP complex, between buildings six and seven, at 11311 Chinden Boulevard.

According to the citation, employees were operating a John Deere 5525 tractor with a 553 Loader that had an implement attached to collect grass clippings. The clipping weight was about 200-300 pounds and the implement, described by OSHA as “after-market fabricated metal bins” used to collect and dump grass clippings, was not designed or approved by the manufacturer.

A spokesman for the U.S. Department of Labor said Tuesday that the employer then requested a meeting and OSHA agreed to amend the citation language, but the penalty was not reduced. An informal settlement between OSHA and Trautman Lawn & Landscape Company was signed Aug. 27.

Read the full story from the Idaho Statesman here.