Contractor Fined After Diver Dies on North Carolina Bridge Project

The death of a 47-year-old worker on a bridge project in North Carolina was a “preventable fatality,” and the construction company that employed him faces proposed penalties of $40,000, according to the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

The diver was part of a four-man dive team employed by Maryland-based Coastal Gunite Construction Company to work on the William B. Umstead Bridge over Croatan Sound, which connects Manns Harbor and Fort Raleigh City.

The bridge, locally known as Old Manns Harbor Bridge, was temporarily closed June 3 as part of a $33 million project to repair all 313 concrete spans and replace each of the 170 expansion joints. The restoration of the 69-year-old bridge is set to be completed in late 2026.

On June 25, the diver, during the first day on the job, dove about 19 feet underwater from a boat to conduct a test but was almost immediately removed by team members after becoming unresponsive. Workers performed CPR before emergency medical services arrived, but the diver could not be revived.

OSHA cited Coastal Gunite Construction with four serious violations and proposed the legal maximum of $40,329 in penalties. The full list of violations include:

• Not maintaining a safe practices manual at the worksite to address the safety and health of employees who were engaged in diving operations
• Not providing a first aid kit at the dive location
• Not maintaining an American Red Cross Standard first aid handbook or equivalent and a bag-type manual resuscitator with transparent mask and tubing
• Not assessing the fitness of the diver engaged in diving operations
• Exposing employees performing diving operations to possible air contaminants in that the air intake was in close proximity to the compressor exhaust
• Not testing the Rolair compressor systems for air purity for over 6 months
• Supplying air to divers that had not been tested at least annually to 1.5 times the air hose working pressure
• Not maintaining current CPR or first-aid training for all dive-team members
• Not maintaining an emergency aid list at the worksite
• Not recording or maintaining key information on diving operations

Coastal Gunite Construction has been in business since 1983 and offers structural shotcrete services through offices in Maryland, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Florida.