Eastern Fisheries' in New Bedford dealt with another dock collapse incident.
NEW BEDFORD — New Bedford Police Department confirmed the dock that partially collapsed Friday afternoon belonged to seafood processor Eastern Fisheries, the same company that dealt with a dock collapse incident in the fall.
According to NBPD Media Relations Specialist Holly Huntoon, NBPD was called around 3:30 p.m. on Friday to "assist with an outer section of the Easter Fisheries Pier that collapsed." Four vessels that were against the pier were moved, she said.
"There were no injuries, but some equipment went into the water," Huntoon wrote in an email. "The pier was already in the process of being worked on and was surrounded by jersey barriers."
Huntoon did not confirm whether or not the pier involved in Friday's incident was the same one involved in an Oct. 9 incident in which a 225-foot by 36-foot section of a pier at the end of Hervey Tichon Avenue on New Bedford's waterfront, belonging to Eastern Fisheries. In that incident, a total of four people — two later hospitalized — and some construction equipment reportedly fell into the water.
Get some background: OSHA fines company after New Bedford dock collapse that injured Eastern Fisheries workers
Recent development
The initial collapse of Eastern Fisheries' pier back in October had led to some scrutiny by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Based on OSHA's investigation, Connecticut-based construction company Mohawk Northeast Inc. — which had worked on Eastern Fisheries' pier — was penalized a total of $214,327.
According to OSHA, the company hadn't completed prep work that should have been done prior to allowing any employees or equipment onto the pier. Mohawk Northeast Inc. was due to respond to OSHA's correspondence by April 15, an OSHA media rep had said. OSHA media staff did not respond to requests for a status update in time for this publishing.
This article originally appeared on Standard-Times: NBPD: Friday dock collapse was Eastern Fisheries'
