Safety Violations Charged in Subway Tunneling : Investigation: State and federal officials issue a major citation and uncover 75 alleged workplace hazards during Metro Rail construction.

Alarmed by two accidents within four months, state and federal occupational safety officials have begun an investigation of Metro Rail construction conditions--uncovering dozens of alleged safety violations and issuing a major citation in one of the accidents.

A team of two dozen state and federal inspectors fanned out earlier this week across Red Line tunnels and stations under construction. So far, investigators have found 75 alleged workplace hazards and forbidden the use of several pieces of heavy equipment, Cal/OSHA Director John Howard said Thursday.

In addition, Cal/OSHA has cited tunnel contractor Shea-Kiewit-Kenny in connection with a runaway train that injured three workers in March and temporarily shut down tunneling. In one of its largest assessments in the last two years, the agency ordered the company to pay $301,675 in penalties for 20 safety violations, most of them classified as “willful” or “serious.”

“We’ve only had seven (cases) in excess of $250,000” since June, 1992. “So this represents a fairly large package monetarily,” Howard said.

Representatives of the company, which Howard said has appealed the citation, were not available for comment Thursday.

The penalties and the emerging results of the investigation dealt another blow to a billion-dollar project beset by accidents and accusations of deficient work.

Barely four months after the locomotive accident, three workers were injured in an explosion that rocked a tunnel beneath Vermont Avenue and 6th Street. Inspectors have found many sections of the concrete tunnels Downtown to be thinner than designed, and a misalignment of tunnels stretching between Downtown and Hollywood will require some re-excavation and push the project further behind schedule.

The accidents prompted Cal/OSHA to mount the full safety audit sooner than the bimonthly routine inspection. And the agency invited federal inspectors to join the investigation.

“We were concerned about some of these recent events,” Howard said. “We accelerated this (investigation) a little, and certainly the scope is larger.

“It’s a significant effort that we’re making to audit the whole project, to make certain that the hazards that are present are corrected.”

Electrical and ventilation hazards are among the 75 alleged safety violations discovered so far, Howard said.

Inspectors have also ordered workers to stop using seven heavy cranes that may have faulty controls or wiring and have suspended excavation on at least one tunnel segment for lack of proper shoring.

A full report on the investigation is expected next week.

Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials in charge of the project said they were unaware of the preliminary findings of the investigation and of the citation, issued Aug. 1.

Edward McSpedon, the MTA’s executive officer for construction, said safety is a top priority on the project, which is to extend the Metro Rail system by 4.5 miles along Vermont Avenue to Hollywood Boulevard and Highland Avenue.

“Underground construction--tunneling work--has particularly high risks,” he said. “Maintaining safety on our job site is a 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week fact of life.

“We have safety requirements and provisions on the rail construction project that exceed substantially what you’ll find on other construction projects,” he said. “We have financial incentives and penalties on our large contracts to reward safe performance and penalize less-than-safe performance.”

The MTA’s award or penalty will be determined upon the completion of the project. McSpedon declined to comment on whether the MTA is happy with Shea-Kiewit-Kenny’s performance, saying only that the project’s rate of serious injury “has been well below the national average.”

Between October, 1991, and last May, the company has had nine injuries that kept people out of work the next day and 149 requiring medical treatment, according to the MTA. Those rates are about half the national average for such projects.

However, a Metro Rail safety official said in a letter to the company that the March 15 train accident was the latest example of “your ongoing unacceptable safety and quality performance on this project.”

The citation issued in connection with the accident lists 20 violations, including 12 “serious” violations, four “willful (and) serious” violations, three general violations and one “willful regulatory” violation.

The willful violations, which imply that Shea-Kiewit-Kenny knew of the hazards but ignored them, carry the greatest financial penalty--up to $70,000 in one case. Investigators accuse the contracting firm of failure to prevent employees from riding an improperly equipped train and failure to provide a brakeman.

Inspectors also noted that the company had failed to keep the track in good condition and to store oil-soaked waste properly.