WASHINGTON — A North Dakota man has been sentenced to time served and 18 months of supervised release after pleading guilty earlier this year to one count of obstruction of an Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) violation that led to another man’s death.
According to an Oct. 14 news release from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Office of Inspector General, Stephan Reisinger will also have to pay a $100 special assessment fee.
Reisinger worked as a maintenance manager at Nabors Completion and Production Services Co. (NCPS) in Williston, North Dakota, when another employee was fatally injured in an Oct. 3, 2014 explosion.
The man was welding on an uncleaned tanker trailer that had been used to transport produced water, a liquid byproduct generated during the extraction of oil and natural gas, when it exploded, the news release stated.
During OSHA’s investigation into the employee’s death, Reisinger falsely stated that “just water” was in the tanks but, in the plea agreement, admitted to knowing the tanker trailers transported produced water, which can contain flammable chemicals.
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