Construction company in Idaho airport hangar collapse ignored safety standards, OSHA says

BOISE, Idaho. (AP) — Federal safety investigators on Monday cited a construction company in the deadly collapse of an Idaho airport hangar, saying it exercised a “blatant disregard” for federal safety standards.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration proposed nearly $200,000 in penalties for Big D Builders, Inc., KBOI-TV reported. The penalties stem from one willful violation and three serious violations of federal safety regulations.

“Big D Builders’ blatant disregard for federal safety regulations cost three workers their lives and caused at least eight others to suffer painful injuries,” OSHA Area Director David Kearns said.

Big D Builders, based in Meridian, Idaho, in an emailed statement on Monday said the company had no comment on the report or its findings because of a pending lawsuit filed by the families of two of the construction workers who were killed.

Federal inspectors found the company had started building the hangar without sufficient bracing or tensioned wires and that numerous indications that the structure was unstable and bending were ignored.

“The company’s irresponsible construction methods left the aircraft hangar’s structure extremely vulnerable,” Kearns said.

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The private hangar at the Boise airport was still under construction when it collapsed under high winds on Jan. 31. The families of Mario Sontay and Mariano Coc filed the wrongful death lawsuit against Big D Builders, Steel Building Systems, Inland Crane and Speck Steel in federal court, asking for unspecified monetary damages.

Sontay, 32, and Coc, 24, had been working on the hangar job for six days when the massive metal structure collapsed. They’d been sent to the hangar from another construction site by Big D Builders because the shell of the building was supposed to be completed by the end of January, according to the lawsuit. Big D Builders co-owner Craig Durrant, 59, also died when the structure fell.

OSHA had previously cited the company for violations related to fall risks.

The federal agency also cited Inland Crane Inc. more than $10,000 for continuing to erect the hangar despite visible structural problems.

Inland Crane didn’t immediately respond to an emailed request for comment from The Associated Press but said previously in response to the lawsuit that the company and their employees were not at fault.