An Ewa Beach fish-farming operation has been found in violation of 19 safety and health requirements regarding the May 24 diving fatality of one of its employees, the state occupational safety office said Thursday.
Jeffrey Barbieto, 41, a diver for Hukilau Foods, died while maintaining underwater fish-cultivation cages for the company off Ewa Beach. Barbierto was also a Honolulu firefighter.
The state citations are against Grove Farm Fish & Poi LLC, parent company of Hukilau Foods, which raises moi off Ewa Beach. Proposed penalties total $50,050.
The state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations’ Hawaii Occupational Safety and Health Division said its investigation concluded that Grove Farm Fish & Poi LLC violated 19 safety and health requirements.
Grove Farm will have an opportunity to contest the citations and penalties, the state said.
Among the citations, the employer failed "to prohibit a dive team member from diving during the period that the diver was sufficiently impaired as to adversely affect his/her safety and health," a news release said.
Bill Kunstman, occupational safety division spokesman, said the department could not elaborate on the impairment.
The company also failed to check Barbieto’s fitness level before each assignment, did not limit scuba diving to depths of no more than 130 feet, did not provide a decompression chamber at the dive site and did not provide a buddy diver and standby diver in case of emergency, the safety office said.
Grove Farm Vice President Marissa Sandblom said she had not yet seen the citations and did not immediately provide a response Thursday.
"This tragedy was preventable," HIOSH Administrator Jennifer Shishido said in the news release. "The lessons learned from past diving accidents have resulted in comprehensive protocols and regulations that, if implemented properly, would have prevented this fatality."
The state said employers can schedule a free workplace safety consultation by contacting 586-9135 or dlir.hiosh@hawaii.gov.