OSHA fined a water utilities construction company $1.3 million following the deaths of two workers at a Boston dig site.
Workers Jordy Alexander Castaneda Romero and Juan Carlos Figueroa Gutierrez died when a dump truck struck them both, pushing them into a nine-foot deep trench at a sewer repair site in Boston.
OSHA is accusing Atlantic Coast Utilities LLC/Advanced Utilities Inc., its predecessor company Shannon Construction, their owner Laurence Moloney and successor company, Sterling Excavation LLC, of multiple willful, repeat, serious and other-than serious violations.
Because of the severity of the recent incident and the employer’s history of violations, OSHA used its egregious citation policy, allowing the agency to propose separate penalties for each instance of a violation.
OSHA inspected Atlantic Coast Utilities six times and cited the company for 14 willful, repeat and serious violations prior to the fatal incident.
Those violations led to fines of $81,242, of which $73,542 was left unpaid.
Moloney and his companies ignored the citations and demands for abatement of the hazards, according to a Department of Labor news release.
The agency is also currently investigating a separate complaint of excavation hazards at the worksite of successor company Sterling Excavation.
Fine: $1,350,884 (for health and safety violations)
Company: Atlantic Coast Utilities LLC/Advanced Utilities Inc., and its Successors, including, but not limited to Sterling Excavation LLC, Wayland, MA
Business: Water and sewer line structures construction
Reasons for fine:
Seven willful violations for failure to:
- train employees on recognition and avoidance of hazards (six individual violations)
- protect employees from cave-ins by using adequate protective systems
One repeat violation for failure to:
- use support systems on sidewalks undermined during excavation
22 serious violations, including failure to:
- ensure competent persons conducted regular worksite inspections
- place traffic-control signs where required
- ensure vehicles were properly repaired before placing them in service
- provide employees exposed to traffic hazards with high-visibility warning vests
- ensure competent persons identified all confined spaces where employees were directed to work
- provide emergency equipment for employees working in confined spaces
Two other-than serious violations for failure to:
- record two fatal injuries on OSHA Form 300
- report two work-related deaths within eight hours
