Boat firm pays fine in employee's death

After an investigation by OSHA, Endeavor Catamaran Corp. pays $5,000 and installs a safety rail. "He was a great guy," an official says.

By AMELIA DAVIS

© St. Petersburg Times, published March 22, 2000

LARGO -- Steven Lee loved boats.

He liked to fish from them, sail them, paddle them and build them. "He liked anything that had to do with boats," said his brother-in-law, Chris Quigley.

Last August, Lee, 47, was working on the bow of a catamaran under construction at Endeavor Catamaran Corp. off Ulmerton Road when he fell 9 feet, hitting his head on concrete.

A few days later, Lee died of his injuries at Bayfront Medical Center in St. Petersburg.

His death sparked an investigation by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which fined Endeavor $5,000 for failing to have a safety rail or a security guard at the work site.

Endeavor has paid the fine and put up the rail, Lawrence Falck, director of OSHA's regional office in Tampa, said Tuesday.

"We couldn't believe it happened," said Rob Vincent, president of Endeavor. Lee "had done that type of work many times before."

Vincent said he believes Lee, who was taken by ambulance to Bayfront after the accident, may have suffered some type of seizure that caused the fall. Before the accident, Lee had missed work because of illness, Vincent said.

When Endeavor employees heard their co-worker had died, "It was horrible," Vincent said. "We didn't expect him to die. He was a great guy."

Quigley said his brother-in-law also is missed by family members, including Quigley's wife, who was Lee's sister, two brothers and his mother.

All are residents of St. Petersburg.

"He was a real people person," Quigley said. "People enjoyed being around him. He liked just hanging out."

Vincent said Lee's co-workers also miss Lee and have erected a memorial with a flag and a plaque at the corporation headquarters. Endeavor is the largest manufacturer of catamaran products in the United States, Vincent said.

Falck said OSHA has recently cited Endeavor for other safety violations including failure to have procedures for respirator protection written down.

Also, Falck said, the company fails to make sure respirators, which are masks worn over a person's nose and mouth when using hazardous materials, are properly fitted before distributing them to employees.

Endeavor and OSHA are working on solutions to those problems, Falck said.

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