Kona firm cited for bulldozer operator's death

By Hugh Clark
Advertiser Big Island Bureau

HILO, Hawai'i — Federal labor investigators have cited a Kona firm for the death of its bulldozer operator at a remote Ka'u cinder pit in April.

James W. Mitchell, 48, was buried in an industrial accident April 2. Police reported that he suffocated.

Federal officials concluded there was "failure to establish mining methods to maintain wall, bank and slope stability at the site in Hawaiian Ocean View Estates.

"The victim was operating a bulldozer at the top of the high wall when it failed. Mining methods that would maintain wall, bank and slope had not been used," the report said.

Charles Harlan, president of Kona Cinder and Soil Inc., said yesterday that the findings were under review by his attorney.

Harlan said his operation had been inspected in the past by state occupational health officials and found free of safety violations.

He declined comment on the investigators' report that his firm "did not have a training plan."

Mitchell, who had been on the job 28 weeks before his death at the Lurline Drive quarry, also was the site manager.

Investigators said there was no evidence he had received any safety training, though he was a veteran bulldozer operator.

A cease operations order was lifted when federal officials said "conditions which contributed to the accident no longer exist."