The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration Wednesday recommended that a private contractor be fined $46,000 for failing to follow safety measures at the Pearl Harbor inactive shipyard, where two civilian workers died and two others were hurt when they were hit by a seven-ton buoy.

Justin Saragosa, 30, of Kapolei, and Joefrey Andrada, 42, of Waipahu, were killed Dec. 11 when, officials said, a buoy hit workers who were on board a barge that was servicing the Navy’s mothball fleet near the Pearl City peninsula. Two other workers were injured. At the time of the accident, officials said the buoy weighed 5 tons.

The OSHA report, issued Wednesday, said stronger safety measures could have saved the lives of the two workers, who were repairing moorings on a barge when a chain suspending the buoy broke. Two other workers were hurt in the incident at the Middle Loch facility.

The work was subcontracted to Healy Tibbitts Builders Inc. by Truston Technologies Inc. for the Navy.

OSHA issued citations for the following violations:

» Failing to protect employees from impalement hazards
» Neglecting to follow written Navy procedures
» Exceeding the rated capacity of a wire rope sling to suspend a load
» Subjecting a wire rope sling to a shock load
» Failing to provide safe access to the top of a concrete sinker.

Truston Technologies, based in Annapolis, Md., and Healy Tibbitts, in Aiea, have 15 business days from receipt of their citations and proposed penalties to comply, request an informal conference with OSHA’s area director in Honolulu, or contest the findings before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

When the accident happened, civilian workers were strengthening mooring lines on the 820-foot decommissioned amphibious ship Tarawa, which uses a number of the white, circular buoys. Two of the men were knocked or jumped into the water to avoid the buoy, which was 12 to 15 feet in diameter. One man reported jumping 15 feet from the concrete barge into the water.

The Navy-owned facility is used as a holding area for decommissioned vessels, pending determination of their final fate.