Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has closed its investigation, without issuing a citation into the traffic accident in front of StarKist Samoa compound in December of last year that claimed the lives of four cannery workers.

OSHA, a bureau of the U.S Labor Department (USDOL), public records shows that the federal agency’s Honolulu Area Office — which has jurisdiction over American Samoa —  opened the investigation into the “traffic accident”  last December.

OSHA records show that no citation was issued and the case was closed on May 13 this year.

Responding to Samoa News inquiries, USDOL spokesman Jose Carnevali of the USDOL Region 9, explained the reason behind the federal agency’s involvement in investigating a “traffic accident”.

“Although OSHA does not have any jurisdiction over vehicle accidents, per standard procedure, OSHA opened an investigation because... employees were fatally injured on StarKist grounds,” he said on Monday.

“At the conclusion of the investigation, there were no citations issued because there are no OSHA standards that cover hazards associated with moving vehicles in general industry,” he said.

Carnevali explained that all the guidance developed by the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and U.S Department of Transportation identify controlling speed as the best way to protect pedestrians from these types of incidents and the employer has no control over speed limits on public roads.

As previously reported by Samoa News, the traffic accident occurred in the early morning hours of Dec. 19, 2021 when a vehicle being chased by police for speeding and overtaking vehicles on the road lost control, crashed into a vehicle coming onto the highway at the StarKist Samoa plant and plunged into the cannery entrance gate and security area, killing 4 cannery employees.

Two employees were in the vehicle coming onto the main road, while the other two victims were struck near the cannery gate.

Early this year, StarKist Samoa management considered ways to protect its employees from future dangers from the road — especially involving vehicles careening of the road to hit those sitting, walking or standing around the employee entrance area to the StarKist Samoa plant in Atuu. In February, the company installed a line of 4-foot tall barrier posts along the sidewalk bordering the road near the employee entrance that many consider a waiting area for employees.