A bizarre mishap that sent a chuck of blasting material through a Tierrasanta home led the California agency in charge of investigating workplace accidents to cite two companies for violations.
NBC 7 obtained copies of the citations issued by California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health Mining and Tunneling Unit after a rock quarry explosion along Mission Gorge Road sent a large piece of clay into a nearby neighborhood.
The August incident left a hole in the side of John Cruz’s garage and damaged his large blue recycling bin.
“Judging by the size of the hole, penetrating the side of someone’s garage, definitely if someone was standing there… it would not have worked out well for them,” said Cruz.
Cal/OSHA issued two citations: one to Superior Ready Mix Concrete L.P., which operates the quarry, and another to California Drilling & Blasting Co. Inc., which has the blasting contract.
Both citations point to inadequate inspections saying “they did not have a written plan or procedure to identify hazards when blasting the South bench of the Superior Ready Mix Mission Gorge quarry.”
“It sounds to me like definitely human error. You’ve got to cross those t’s and dot i’s and that didn’t happen,” said Cruz.
Both citations carry fines between $400 and $600. Superior Ready Mix Concrete says this is the only event of its kind in 23 years.
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“I’m probably a pretty forgiving guy,” said Cruz. “So, I get it, that was the first time that happened, first time I’ve ever heard of something like that happening, so I’ll go with that for now. It’s a freak thing.”
Cal/OSHA says both companies had already adequately addressed the violations by the time the citations were actually issued.
