SC Company, Subcontractor Fined for Violations

CATAWBA, S.C. (AP) _ A South Carolina company and its contractor have been fined for what a state agency calls “serious violations” related to an accident that killed a worker. Resolute Forest Products and its subcontractor were fined $33,250 by the state Office of Occupational Safety and Health for seven “serious violations” related to the January accident that killed Samir Storey. The state fined Resolute $17,850 for three serious violations and one “other-than-serious” violation. Subcontractor Industrial Piping Inc. of Pineville, N.C., was fined $15,400 for four serious violations. The companies can appeal the fines. The 39-year-old Storey was one of several contract employees cleaning a 10-by-40-foot tank in the plant’s power generation area during a scheduled maintenance outage. The Monroe, N.C., man died from hydrogen sulfide asphyxiation when he was trapped in the tank.