• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Subscribe
  • Donate

WyoFile

Indepth News about Wyoming People, Places & Policy. Wyoming news.

  • Latest News
    • Education
    • Energy
    • Legislature
    • Native America
    • Natural Resources
    • People
    • Photo Friday
    • Places
    • Policy
  • Voices
    • Drake’s Take
    • Madden’s Measure
    • Guest Column
    • Studio Wyoming Review
  • Supporters
    • Membership
    • Underwriting
    • Foundations
  • COVID-19
  • Latest News
    • Education
    • Energy
    • Legislature
    • Native America
    • Natural Resources
    • People
    • Photo Friday
    • Places
    • Policy
  • Voices
    • Drake’s Take
    • Madden’s Measure
    • Guest Column
    • Studio Wyoming Review
  • Supporters
    • Membership
    • Underwriting
    • Foundations
  • COVID-19

OSHA cites outfitter in death of Yellowstone kayak guide

OSHA cites outfitter in death of Yellowstone kayak guide

Kayakers on Yellowstone Lake’s West Thumb navigate past geothermal features on a calm day. (flickr creative commons/Jeremy Reding [see story's end for link to Reding, license])

January 9, 2018 by Angus M. Thuermer Jr. 1 Comment

Tweet
Share52
Pin
Email
52 Shares
Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Wyoming’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited an outfitter in the death of a kayak guide on Yellowstone Lake last summer, seeking $38,672 in fines for eight safety violations.

OSHA cited OARS West Inc. for violations associated with the June 14, 2017, death of Timothy Hayden Ryan Conant, 23, of Salt Lake City. Conant died of hypothermia while guiding an OARS kayak trip from Grant Village to the West Thumb Geyser Basin and back, OSHA reported. He was helping rescue a client who had fallen in the water when he, too, went into the lake.

Neither OARS nor OSHA personnel would comment to WyoFile, citing ongoing negotiations over the proposed fine and any abatement the company is undertaking.

In an undated “fatal alert” OSHA provided WyoFile, the agency cited “significant factors” in Conant’s death. (See the alert below.)

Three OARS guides were on the water the day of the incident and all were first-year guides, the alert said. Conant was the longest-tenured guide at 45 days.

OARS provides this map on its website to describe the route it takes from Grant Village to the West Thumb Geyser Basin on Yellowstone Lake in Yellowstone National Park. (OARS)

“The guides were not trained in self or buddy rescue techniques for kayaks,” the alert said. “The guides were using everyday clothing for extremity protection.”

Also, the guides “were not familiar with the [company’s] emergency response procedures,” OSHA wrote.

Those descriptions of shortcomings translated into eight “violation items,” six of which OSHA classified as serious. Three carried fines of $11,224 each and one a fine of $5,000. OSHA says all the violations have been abated, meaning the company has addressed the shortcomings.

According to a list of OSHA safety regulations, two of the citations for serious violations were for infractions regarding the issuance of personal protective equipment to guard against hazards. Conant was wearing a life vest, or personal flotation device, at the time of the incident. But, as the alert stated, he was paddling in “everyday clothing.” He had a kit containing a wool blanket and cell phone “to call for emergency services,” OSHA said.

Employers are required to analyze hazards that employees face, equip them with protective gear at no cost to the worker, and ensure employees use the gear.

In its alert, OSHA recommended that OARS evaluate guide rescue training and the training used to familiarize new guides with their duties in the company’s emergency response plan. The agency said OARS also should reevaluate its policy regarding personal protective gear specific to Yellowstone Lake.

Once it issues citations and sees that safety shortcomings are addressed by an employer, OSHA typically negotiates for potential reductions in the fines. That negotiation is ongoing, according to an OSHA spokeswoman and OARS.

The tragedy unfolded on the return to Grant Village from the geyser basin when a client’s kayak capsized, OSHA’s wrote. The three guides got the client back into his kayak but were struggling to get him to shore when Conant’s kayak also capsized.

Never miss a story — subscribe to WyoFile’s free weekly newsletter

One guide took the client to shore and eventually the third guide, and two clients, helped get Conant to shore. National Park Service water rangers rescued the group and transported them to the marina at Grant Village where Conant was pronounced dead from exposure and hypothermia.

A Salt Lake City native, Conant grew up there and in Anchorage, Alaska. He graduated from the University of Utah in 2017 with degrees in history and anthropology.

He was a ski instructor, an enthusiastic skier, and loved outdoor adventures and clean mountain air, according to an obituary posted on Facebook. The son of Steve Ryan and Molly [Ryan] James, “he taught others through example, of the selfless life, ultimately giving his to save another,” the obituary read.


Flickr creative commons photo by Jeremy Reding some rights reserved.

This article was updated Jan. 10 to add OSHA’s “fatal alert” document — Ed.

 


Popular Articles:


Lawmakers derail trapping regulations against Wyo’s best interest


New study reframes fence impacts on deer, pronghorn


EPA disputes ‘alternative approach’ that OK’d huge oilfield


Filed Under: Deadly Workplaces, Environment, outdoors, This Week

Angus M. Thuermer Jr.

About Angus M. Thuermer Jr.

Angus M. Thuermer Jr. is the natural resources reporter for WyoFile. He is a veteran Wyoming reporter and editor with more than 35 years experience in Wyoming. Contact him at [email protected] or (307) 690-5586. Follow Angus on Twitter at @AngusThuermer

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Len Carlman says

    January 12, 2018 at 12:14 pm

    Thanks Angus for this coverage. I forwarded it to a couple of other outfitters who regularly ply the waters of Yellowstone Lake. They were grateful for your account of the event and its circumstances. They said the story caused them to have better company discussions about safety and accident prevention, including, for one company, keeping up the practice of full-immersion swimming by the guides at the end of every day, no matter what the weather is, including during snow storms, to drive home the reality of that lake’s powerfully cold water. One also said his company requires what feels like “over-dressing” for travel on that lake because of the drastic contrast between what is often amiable paddling along the surface and the harsh and instantaneous contrast of dealing with the water as a swimmer. That dialogue taught me some new things too, so I’m personally grateful to you as well.

    • City: Jackson
    • State of Residence: Wyoming
    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Want to join the discussion? Fantastic, here are the ground rules:
- Identify yourself with full name and city. WyoFile stands behind everything we publish and expects commenters to do the same.
- No personal attacks, profanity, discriminatory language or threats. Keep it clean, civil and on topic.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter

Tweets by @WyoFile

Search WyoFile

Become an Underwriter
Sign Up for Free Weekly Newsletters

Recent Comments

  • David Lieb on Lawmakers defied mask orders at session kick-off in Capitol
  • Harvey Reading on Lummis, Eathorne responses to insurrection are delusional
  • Margaret Brown on Sen. Barrasso, it’s time to make friends with Mayor Pete
  • Bill Moe on Lummis, Eathorne responses to insurrection are delusional
  • Jody Gostas on Lawmakers defied mask orders at session kick-off in Capitol

Footer

Recent Posts By Date

January 2021
M T W T F S S
 123
45678910
11121314151617
18192021222324
25262728293031
« Dec    

From The Archives

  • About Us
  • People
  • Careers
  • Freelancing
  • Underwriting
  • How to Republish
  • Subscribe
  • Contact Us

Copyright © 2021 by WyoFile