An Occupational Safety and Health Administration investigation into the death of an apprentice electrician in Hancock County earlier this year found that the man’s death was related to a severe electrical hazard, raising doubts about earlier accounts from county officials who claimed the man died after falling from scaffolding.
The agency did not respond to further questions from The Mississippi Independent.
The OSHA investigation into the May 12 incident at the Port Bienville Industrial Park in Bay St. Louis found the Doleac Electrical Company liable for the violations that led to the death of Justin Davis, 28.
“On or about May 12, 2026, an employee worked on a deenergized circuit without a lock, tag or effective means of isolating from potentially hazardous electrical energy,” the OSHA report said.
OSHA initially fined Doleac $11,585, short of the $16,550 maximum penalty for a serious violation. Penalties for willful or repeated violations can exceed $165,000. OSHA classified Doleac’s violation as “serious” when it issued the penalty on July 28, 2026. After Doleac contested the citation in mid-August, however, OSHA reclassified it as “other,” as part of a formal settlement.
Doleac did not respond to questions about OSHA’s findings or why the company contested the citation.
Despite the subsequent reclassification, OSHA investigators assigned the violation a gravity rating of 10, the highest on the agency’s gravity-based penalty scale. Such a rating reflects a hazard OSHA assessed as having high severity and a greater probability of occurring, including the potential for death or extremely serious injury or illness.
Further details about Davis’s death are not expected to appear publicly in OSHA’s fatality records until later this year under the agency’s reporting process. OSHA did not respond to questions about Davis’s death or a Mississippi Independent request to review the investigative file.
Although the OSHA report does not name Davis, Hancock County Coroner Jeff Hair and Sheriff Johnny Alison previously identified him as the worker who died. Calgon Carbon Corporation, which operated the worksite where Davis died, also confirmed his identity.
A related OSHA investigation into Calgon, a global manufacturer of activated carbon, ended in July without any citations or penalties against the company, according to OSHA records and the company.
“Calgon Carbon can confirm that OSHA completed an inspection at the Pearl River Facility related to this incident and no citations were issued to Calgon Carbon,” Kay Kissman, Calgon’s director of global marketing and communications, told The Mississippi Independent.
The circumstances surrounding Davis’s death have been disputed since he died. Hair and Sheriff Alison initially said Davis had fallen about 20 feet from scaffolding, striking additional scaffolding on the way down without reaching the ground.
Alison later corrected that account, saying Davis had not fallen but was found slumped over on the scaffolding. Davis’s family attorney, Chip Herrington, told The Mississippi Independent that another electrician subsequently checked the fixture Davis had been working on and found it was still energized—an account consistent with OSHA’s findings that an employee had worked on a circuit that was not effectively isolated from hazardous electrical energy. Witnesses at the scene believed Davis had been electrocuted, according to Herrington.
The most contentious confrontation came between Davis’s family and Hair, a former Calgon employee who also works full time as a Waveland police officer.
Herrington accused Hair of attempting to intimidate the family into silence over their belief that Davis had been electrocuted. He alleged that Hair raised his voice while scolding Davis’s father and widow, defended his former employer’s safety record and threatened to personally intervene if family members posted on social media that Davis had died by electrocution.
As county coroner, Hair was responsible for investigating the circumstances surrounding Davis’s unexpected death and helping determine its cause and manner.
The confrontation, coupled with Hair’s previous employment at Calgon, raised concerns among Davis’s family about his independence in investigating the death.
“There is concern that if Calgon Carbon has control over the County Coroner’s office, might they also have control over the medical examiner?” Herrington said in a statement. “This type of corruption erodes public confidence and we deserve better.”
Hair did not respond to questions from The Mississippi Independent about those allegations at the time.
Image: Justin and Candace Davis (courtesy Candace Davis)
