Agency orders fines in Wal-Mart accident

Lawyers for two of the men severely burned in an electrical fire in August at the new Wal-Mart Supercenter in Bloomington said they are uncertain how recent fines leveled against their clients' employer will affect their cases.\nThe Indiana Occupational Safety and Health Administration fined Elecromation, a Muncie-based subcontractor hired by the LaSalle Group, $15,000 Nov. 14 after completing an inspection of the Aug. 26 accident and deciding the company violated six serious safety rules, worth $2,500 each. \n"We're looking at the totality of the situation," said Bill Emerick of the law firm Stuart & Branigin in Lafayette. Emerick is representing the estate of Scott Shelton, 35, who died Oct. 13 in Wishard Memorial Hospital as a result of the severe second- and third-degree burns that covered more than 90 percent of his body. His family filed a wrongful-death suit against Wal-Mart Stores Inc., The LaSalle Group and Duke Energy earlier in November.\nEmerick said he was uncertain of whether his firm would expand the lawsuit to include more defendants, such as Electromation. \n"We're looking at all the options that we have," he said.\nAccording to the IOSHA report, Electromation failed to ensure their employees were properly protected, both through instructing the men to recognize and avoid unsafe conditions and by providing proper safety equipment, such as hard hats and eye and face guards. As a result, when the panel the electricians were working on shorted and sent a six- to eight-foot arc of electricity through the air, the men had nothing but their regular clothing to protect their bodies from the resulting fire.\nIn addition, IOSHA said Electromation violated a safety order by having its employees work near live electric power circuits, which were not properly protected and were charged with up to 600 volts of electricity, and by not marking the area with conspicuous warning signs.\nElectromation had 15 working days as of Nov. 14 to respond to the charges leveled against them. The payment is due Dec. 11. A phone call Monday to Electromation owner Larry Coffey was not returned. \nUnder Indiana law, employees cannot sue their employers unless there was a "gross intentional act" by the employer, Emerick said. That did not stop Stephen Abbott, 27, of Otterbein, Ind., and his wife, Stephanie, from filing a civil lawsuit citing negligence against the other companies involved in the electrical accident. Wal-Mart Stores Inc., The LaSalle Group and Duke Energy are also all named in their suit. \nJohn Boren of the law firm Boren & Oliver in Martinsville is representing Abbott, who remained in stable condition at Wishard on Tuesday night after receiving burns to 90 percent of his body.\n"There's a whole lot more questions than there are answers right now," Boren said, explaining that his firm was still in the early stages of research for the case. \nBoth Boren and Emerick said not all of the defendants have responded yet to the lawsuits.\nWal-Mart spokesman Jason Wetzel has said that Wal-Mart was not liable in this accident because the site was not under control of the site at the time. They did not take possession of the building until it opened in October.\n"Our company, of course, does hire the contractors to do the work, and they typically subcontract out," he said by phone Monday.\nRobert Eury, 29, of Bloomington is the third man injured in the electrical accident. His family has not publicly decided whether to sue any of the companies involved in the accident, though they have hired a lawyer to oversee his finances. He was in stable condition at Wishard on Tuesday night.\nEury's friend Alex Kimmel said Eury had been considering quitting his job just two days before the accident because his boss had left, citing the improper conditions the men were being forced to work under.