HONOLULU (AP) - The U.S. Department of Labor is proposing to fine two federal contractors $46,000 for safety violations after a 7-ton buoy struck and killed two workers at Pearl Harbor last year.

The department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration said Wednesday Truston Technologies and Healy Tibbits Builders exposed employees to danger when they allowed loads exceeding working limits on a wire rope sling.

It says Healy Tibbitts failed to protect employees from impalement hazards and neglected to follow written Navy procedures.

The men were repairing moorings on a barge when a chain suspending the buoy broke in December. The agency says the buoy fell 75 feet.

Healy Tibbitts is based in Aiea (eye-AY-ah), Hawaii. Truston is based in Annapolis, Maryland. Neither company immediately responded to telephone messages seeking comment.

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