PIPELINE CONTRACTOR FINED $7,000 OVER SAFETY VIOLATION THAT KILLED MACFARLAN MAN

(07/20/2015)

Snelson, a pipeline construction contractor, has been cited and fined $7,000 by federal officials following an investigation of the January death of a Macfarlan, Ritchie County worker on a project at Moundsville. Steven Ray Hupp, 57, of Macfarlan, was killed on Jan. 10. OSHA cited "crushing internal injuries" that occurred when Hupp was pulled between the track and the frame of a sideboom crane as that equipment rolled backwards, downhill, from a parked position. Hupp was employed by Snelson, a pipeline services company based in Sedro Woolley, Washington. OSHA inspectors cited Snelson for allegedly not ensuring that the tracks on the equipment Hupp was killed by were blocked when the machine was parked on a slope. OSHA also alleged that Snelson did not provide any training for employees to safely park and block off equipment on such slopes. Last week, several years after the gas boom began, Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin formed a new commission to examine concerns about increased safety problems related to the natural gas business in West Virginia's Marcellus Shale region.

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