OSHA Fines Centre County Trash Hauler for Safety Violation Following Worker’s Death

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has issued a $16,131 fine for a Centre County trash hauler after one of the company’s workers was killed on the job earlier this year.

Milesburg-based Newman Hill was cited for one serious violation following an investigation into the death by the U.S. Department of Labor’s workplace safety regulatory agency.

Nathen R. Kerstetter, 38, of Milesburg, was hanging off the back of a Newman Hill truck on the morning of Jan. 17 when the driver backed the vehicle into a tree overhanging a driveway on the 200 block of North Main Street in Port Matilda, according to state police at Rockview.

Kerstetter suffered fatal injuries from the impact and was pronounced dead at the scene by a Centre County deputy coroner.

Newman Hill, according to the OSHA citation “did not furnish employment and a place of employment which were free from recognized hazards that were causing or likely to cause death or serious physical harm to employees in that employees were exposed to struck-by and caught between hazards when riding on the riding step while the waste collection vehicle was operating in reverse.”

The company also has until July 25 to provide documentation of abatement, or correction of the violation.