Steel company is charged in worker’s death in Kansas City

A St. Louis area steel company was charged in federal court Tuesday with a workplace safety violation that resulted in the death of a worker on a Kansas City construction site.

Eric Roach, a 22-year-old apprentice ironworker, fell about 30 feet on July 24, 2014, and died the next day in a hospital.

According to the federal information, the company doing business as Fastrack Erectors was a subcontractor in the construction of a 300,000-square-foot warehouse in Kansas City and hired local union workers. Roach was one of two employees securing sheet metal to the roof. They were walking on 9-inch-wide trusses and 5-inch-wide bar joists without fall protection when Roach fell.

The general contractor was ARCO National Construction KC Inc., with an office in Riverside. Court records say the contract between ARCO and Fastrack required fall protection.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration earlier this year proposed fines against Fastrack of $511,000 and ARCO of $19,000 for willful and serious safety violations. Both companies have contested the fines. The federal court action is separate.

“This young man had his whole life ahead of him,” OSHA regional administrator Marcia Drumm said at the time of the proposed fines. “His dreams of marriage, children and exploring the great outdoors were cut short because his employer failed to provide fall protection.”

This story was originally published November 10, 2015 at 3:49 PM with the headline "Steel company is charged in worker’s death in Kansas City."