A resort company that owns and operates several hotel properties in Maine has been ordered to pay $46,340 in workplace safety penalties for violations that contributed to the death of a longtime worker in Bar Harbor earlier this year.
Mark A. King, 64, was crushed and killed when a carport canopy collapsed at the Bar Harbor Regency on Feb. 24. King was part of a crew doing demolition work on the canopy, according to the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration, but more detailed information about what specifically was being done when the canopy collapsed has not been released. The hotel had closed down for the winter when the accident happened.
King, an Old Town native who lived in Florida, was employed by Courtcon, Inc., a subsidiary of Ocean Properties Ltd., which also owns the Regency.
Information about what caused the carport to collapse also has not been released. It is unknown if snow that had built up on the carport roof may have been a factor in the incident.
OSHA did not respond Friday to a request for more information about the carport collapse.
OSHA has released information online about specific serious workplace safety violations that factored into King’s death.
Courtcon was cited for:
- Not adequately training employees on demolition safety requirements.
- Not ensuring that employees on the project were wearing safety helmets.
- Not conducting an engineering survey of the carport prior to the incident.
- Not conducting inspections of the carport as work was being done to identify and mitigate hazards.
The company initially was assessed penalties of $16,650 on each of those violations, for a total of $66,600, but they were reduced to $11,585 for each violation when OSHA issued its final order last month.
An initial penalty of $11,823 for a fifth preliminary citation — not training and evaluating another employee on their operation of a forklift — was reduced to $0 in the agency’s final order.
A spokesman for Ocean Properties did not respond Friday to a request for comment about the OSHA penalties.
The hotel resort firm, which owns more than 80 hotels in the U.S. and Canada, was founded by Bangor native Thomas Walsh, who opened his first hotel in Brewer in 1969. Walsh died in 2018, but the company continues to be run by his family.
In addition to the Bar Harbor Regency, the company owns and operates Harborside Hotel in Bar Harbor, West Street Hotel in Bar Harbor, Samoset Resort in Rockport and franchised chain hotels in Auburn, Augusta, Bangor, Bath, Kittery and South Portland.
