... an L&I assessment has absolutely nothing to do with a diver's estate. Labor & Industries is the state equivalent of OSHA. They're looking at how a business ... and this is a commercial diver we're talking about here ... maintains its own safety standards and protocols.
The citation won't be dismissed, because there were not only violations of safety protocols, but an established pattern of violations. This has nothing to do with a civil trial ... and although any competent lawyer would introduce it as a means to establish fault, it's questionable under the circumstances how much fault would be assessed. I can tell you though .. working for an industry where safety protocols are governed by the same agency ... that any business entity that violates its own safety policy can be held culpable to some degree, regardless of the circumstances of a given on the job fatality.
One can rightfully question whether drug testing was a part of the safety protocols, and terms of employment ... then this will also factor into the question of how this person's drug habits managed to go undetected. Drug testing is a requirement at a lot of jobs ... perhaps one of our commercial divers can shed some light on how it works in that industry ...
... Bob (Grateful Diver)
