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Truck repair shop contests OSHA fines tied to explosion

The explosion happened Nov. 14 at Allstate Peterbilt when natural gas that leaked from a garbage truck ignited.
Credit: KARE
A Mankato-area truck repair business is contesting fines that followed an explosion that left 2 injured.

NORTH MANKATO, Minn — A truck service shop in North Mankato is contesting federal fines levied after a natural gas explosion last November that injured two workers.

The explosion happened Nov. 14 at Allstate Peterbilt when natural gas that leaked from a garbage truck ignited.

A 59-year-old Ellendale man was taken by helicopter to Regions Hospital in St. Paul with first- and second-degree burns. A 41-year-old Gibbon man injured his hand and was treated at the scene.

The Mankato Free Press reports the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration fined the business $14,000 for safety violations after an investigation. 

One violation was for electrical installation: "Equipment, wiring methods, and installations of equipment in hazardous (classified) locations shall be intrinsically safe, approved for the hazardous (classified) location, or safe for the hazardous (classified) location."

The other penalty was a general safety violation: "Each employer shall furnish to each of its employees conditions of employment and a place of employment free from recognized hazards that are causing or are likely to cause death or serious injury or harm to its employees."

The Free Press says the truck shop's parent company, Allstate Sales and Leasing Corp., is contesting the penalties.

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