MAYES COUNTY, Okla. — The Grand River Dam Authority oversees the Robert S. Kerr Dam and according to the company it was never under OSHA investigation following an explosion that killed two out of state workers.
The dam is east of Tulsa and on May 13th, three contract workers were 80 feet down in a shaft doing routine maintenance when there was an explosion. Two of workers died while a third escaped. All three men were employed by a Colorado drilling company.
READ: Two contractors dead following explosion at Kerr Dam
Phillip Hughes was killed that night. His daughter spoke to us by phone weeks ago. Victoria Hughes says, “He was funny, caring, smart. He was a driller and miner for many years.”
GRDA communications director, Justin Alberty, said, “Obviously it is a tragic loss of life when something like this occurs.”
Alberty confirmed the GRDA is not being investigated by OSHA. He says that’s because GRDA was not involved with the work being done.
“This was contracted work to mitigate the kind of issues we might have there that might cause an accident like this. Our employees were not really involved in this project they were not down there on the site,” Alberty explained.
When we called the drilling company, DA Smith Drilling out of Colorado, they said they had no comment and then the line went silent.
The mother of 22-year-old Hayden Tucker told us through a Facebook message they want to know the results of the investigation and they want his belongings sent back to them.
The daughter of Phillip Hughes also wants answers.
“We just know that it happened. We know that accidents happen, but we never expected this,” Victoria Hughes said.
We called OSHA twice on Wednesday but never received a call back. OSHA investigations do take months before the results are shared.