OSHA Makes use of ‘Egregious Quotation Coverage,’ Fines Contractor $1.3M for Employee Deaths| Employees Compensation Information

Friday, August 20, 2021 | 0

The US Department of Occupational Safety and Health invoked “outrageous citation policies” when they fined a contractor $ 1.3 million after two workers died while repairing a sewer in Boston.

Jordy Alexander Castaneda Romero, 27, and Juan Carlos Figueroa Gutierrez, 33, died on February 24 after being hit by a dump truck and pushed into a 9-foot ditch.

OSHA said it cited Atlantic Coast Utilities LLC / Advanced Utilities Inc. for 28 willful, repeated, serious, and non-serious violations, including the company’s refusal to train Romero, Gutierrez, and other workers to identify and avoid work-related hazards to have.

The agency also said the Wayland, Massachusetts-based trenching and underground mining company failed to conduct site inspections to identify and remediate hazards, including the risks of being hit by construction vehicles, crushed or broken into an unguarded trench and to be overcome by oxygen. Poor or toxic atmosphere in a trench or shaft.

“Given the severity and nature of the recent threats and the history of violations by Atlantic Coast Utilities LLC / Advanced Utilities Inc. and its predecessor, OSHA has used its egregious citation policy which allows the agency to respond to any case of a violation,” said the supervisory authority for occupational safety in a statement. “OSHA has proposed a total of $ 1,350,884 in fines.”

OSHA cited Atlantic Coast Utilities LLC / Advanced Utilities Inc. and its predecessor Shannon Construction Corp. six times before the incident in February. The company paid less than $ 10,000 of the $ 81,242 in fines, OSHA said.

In a separate enforcement action, OSHA opened an investigation on August 13 against Sterling Excavation LLC, the successor to Atlantic Coast Utilities LLC / Advanced Utilities Inc., in response to a complaint about excavation hazards at another construction site in Boston.