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Osha Fines South Jersey Company $38K Over Fatal Explosion

Federal inspectors have levied more than $38,000 in fines against a South Jersey repair shop where an explosion killed a worker.

Timberlane Services

Timberlane Services

Photo Credit: Google Maps

Bruce A. Cheeseman, 48, of Cedarville, was welding at Timberlane Services Inc. in Mullica Hill on June 15, 2022, when he died from the explosion, according to investigators with the Occupational Health and Safety Administration. (OSHA)

"We are contesting the alleged violation,'' said a spokeswoman for Timberlane. 

The explosion blew Cheeseman through the building's roof, according to an investigative report. 

He was welding nipples onto the top of a fuel tank truck at the time, the report says.

Among the OSHA findings was a willful and serious violation that said welding was performed on used drums or tanks that had not been cleaned.

OSHA also cited a lack of training about hazardous chemicals in the workplace.

"The employee was killed, sustaining blunt force trauma to the head and torso from the explosion itself, the impact with the building roof and landing on the ground outside the work bay entrance," an earlier report says.

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