Federal worker safety agency cites Missouri communications firm in Kansas cell tower deaths

A federal safety enforcement agency is citing a Missouri-based communications company for "willful" and "serious" safety violations in the death of two workers in the collapse in March of a cell tower they were dismantling in Blaine, Kansas.

The Labor Department's Occupational Safety and Health Administration, or OSHA, issued the citations against Wireless Horizon, Inc., of Saint Peters, Missouri.

Dr. David Michaels, the assistant secretary of labor who heads OSHA, said in a statement that the nation's growing need for telecommunications should not cost workers' lives.

OSHA proposed penalties of $134,400 for the company.

Two tower technicians, ages 25 and 38, were killed when a cell tower they were trying to dismantle collapsed on top of them.

OSHA says so far this year, 11 workers have died in such mishaps.