Work-Safety Citations Issued in Fatal Fire : Inquiry: Cal/OSHA holds the O.C. Sanitation District and Pascal and Ludwig Engineers responsible for eight code violations related to two workers’ deaths.

The Orange County Sanitation District and an Ontario engineering firm were cited Friday by state authorities for eight safety code violations related to a flash fire earlier this year that fatally injured two workers at the district’s Huntington Beach facility.

The citations carry civil penalties totaling $11,150 against the firm of Pascal and Ludwig Engineers for four of the violations. The sanitation district is precluded from fines because of its status as a government agency, state officials said.

The citations mark the end of a two-month investigation of the Feb. 2 incident by the state Division of Occupational Safety and Health. However, Cal/OSHA district manager Jim Brown said a separate criminal investigation will continue.

Brown said the criminal inquiry was being handled by the Cal/OSHA Bureau of Investigation, which reviews all fatal incidents in the workplace.

Alan Ludwig, Pascal and Ludwig’s chief executive officer, was not available for comment Friday. Earlier in the week, however, he indicated that the company “would not be surprised” should citations be issued against the firm.

A sanitation district spokeswoman said district officials would not respond to the Cal/OSHA findings until sometime next week.

Cal/OSHA was not able to pinpoint the exact cause of the fire. In the citations, officials said the victims were working in a potentially hazardous area near the source of a combustible oxygen mixture used in the sewage treatment process.

At the time, the victims were working in a seven-foot-deep sewage channel using a pneumatic tool similar to a jackhammer. It could not be determined if the combustible mixture was ignited by a spark from the hammer, however.

The fire claimed the lives of Robin Miller, 37, and Joe Patterson, 32, both of Rancho Cucamonga.

In their review, Cal/OSHA officials said the company had failed to properly secure a stepladder to the channel, the workers’ only means of entry and exit from the channel; did not provide operating and rescue procedures prior to the employees’ entry to the area; failed to require testing for dangerous air contamination, and did not block an ignition source from entering the channel space.

The sanitation district was cited for its failure to post adequate warning signs for the dangers in the area; for failing to inform the engineering firm of special permitting procedures required for working in such a confined space; for failing to inform the contract workers of all the work hazards, including the presence of the combustible oxygen mixture, and for failing to inform Pascal and Ludwig that special precautions were required for working in the area.

Brown declined to characterize the nature of the infractions, saying only: “I’ll let the citations speak for themselves.”

The citations do not pose any operational restrictions for the company or the sanitation district. However, the findings are expected to raise additional questions among the district’s board of directors about Pascal and Ludwig’s qualifications for a $1-million construction contract for future work on district projects.

The district staff had recommended a month after the fire that the contract be awarded to Pascal and Ludwig, but board approval was delayed until formal investigations of the incident were completed.

Last week, several directors expressed reservations about approving Pascal and Ludwig should the firm be sanctioned by Cal/OSHA.

Friday, several directors said they had not yet reviewed the Cal/OSHA findings and declined any comment.

“No one likes to have this kind of tragedy,” said a sanitation district official who declined to be identified. “No one in the sanitation district does. No one at Pascal and Ludwig does. In this society, it seems, we have to find fault with everything that goes wrong. There is no such thing as bad luck anymore.”