December 25, 2002—A large electrical contracting firm and its parent corporation were indicted on federal charges for willfully violating federal (OSHA) workplace safety regulations, allegedly causing the deaths of two workers in separate incidents three months apart in the Chicago area in 1999 and 2000. The case is believed to be the first criminal prosecution in the country involving the electrocution deaths of high-voltage transmission tower linemen. The defendants, L.E. Myers Co. and MYR Group Inc., were charged in a four-count indictment returned December 10 by a federal grand jury.
