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Oct 4, 2007 10:23 am US/Mountain
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Xcel Contractor RPI Coating Had Safety Issues
By Alex Veiga, AP Writer
by Jodi Brooks
LOS ANGELES (AP/CBS4) ―
A California-based contractor that employed five workers killed at a hydroelectric plant in Colorado was cited and fined in the past for safety violations involved in two deaths and several injuries, a California safety official said Wednesday.
RPI Coating of Santa Fe Springs, which operated as Robison-Prezioso Inc. until last year, was one of three contractors fined for safety violations that contributed to the 2002 death of RPI worker Darryl Clemons, said Kate McGuire, spokeswoman for the California Department of Industrial Relations, Cal/OSHA.
Clemons was working on a retrofitting project for the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge when he was pinned and killed by an 18,000-pound work platform that buckled. Four other workers were injured.
The state Occupational Safety & Health Administration agency issued five citations against Robison-Prezioso and assessed $44,550 in fines, McGuire said.
The company was also cited and fined $18,000 in connection with another accident during work on the bridge on Sept. 25, 2001, McGuire said. A passing motorist was killed when scaffolding fell, she said.
A call to RPI spokesman Marc Dyer seeking comment was not immediately returned.
The government inspected RPI Coating 17 times in the last 10 years. There were 70 violations, 15 of those listed as seriuos.
"Serious indicates that the violations could have resulted in serious injury or death," said Skip Guarini, a safety professional who spoke with CBS4.
In Georgetown, Colo., nine of the company's contract maintenance workers were in an underground tunnel at the Xcel Energy plant on Tuesday when a machine used to coat the inside of the 12-foot-wide pipe with epoxy caught fire. Five were killed in the incident.
"Xcel has to ensure that this sub-contractor is providing adequate training to the employees," said Guarini.
RPI is a subsidiary of France-based Prezioso SAS, which develops insulation and other materials for coating industrial structures, according to data provider Capital IQ, a division of Standard & Poor's.
The company has also run afoul of other regulatory agencies.
In 2002, Robison-Prezioso was found in violation of hazardous waste regulations while working to remove paint coatings from storage tanks on U.S. Navy property in Hawaii.
The company was fined after the Hawaii Department of Health determined materials used to remove the paint were hazardous.
The company was accused of treating hazardous waste without a permit, among other violations, and fined $217,640.
Last year, the company agreed to pay $145,000 to settle complaints from the California Department of Toxic Substances Control over lead abatement and recoating work on the Bay Bridge.
The company was accused of violations involving hazardous waste disposal and transportation as well as making false statements.
The problems were uncovered during inspections by the California agency between 2000 and 2004.
(© 2007 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)