Three companies have been cited for serious violations that investigators say led to the deaths of six dairy farm workers in Northern Colorado last year.
According to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration, contractors Fiske Inc. and HD Builders LLC were hired to work on the manure management system at Prospect Ranch LLC in Weld County prior to the incident. On Aug. 20, a pipe in the system reportedly disconnected, releasing manure water and hydrogen sulfide gas into the pump room.
H2S gas is produced as manure decomposes. After the incident in August, David Douphrate, a dairy farm safety expert and Associate Director of the High Plains and Intermountain Center for Agriculture and Safety, told CBS Colorado that it can quickly become dangerous. At higher concentrations, it may only take a few breaths to become affected…