16,004 Underground Construction Co., Inc.

Digest of COSHAB-ALJ's Decision dated January 10, 1985, Docket No. 84-R1D5-374 (San Leandro, CA). Elise Manders, Administrative Law Judge.

For Employer: Ed Bovee, Corporate Safety Engineer. For DOSH: Stephan A. Williams, Associate CSE.

A general violation of 1540(d) (excavations) was affirmed. Employer limited its defense to that of independent employee action. However, the ALJ held that Employer's own conduct--improper delegation of a management decision to a nonmanagement employee--deprived it of any claim it might otherwise have had to this defense.

Independent Employee Action, Defense Not a Matter of Right, Rejected where Management Decision