Repeated Violations Lead to Proposed Fines of $169K

OSHA proposed a total of $169,000 in fines against contractor Penney Construction Co. LLC in Hartford, CT chiefly for exposing its workers to cave-in hazards while repairing a sewer line in a 10-foot-deep trench on Park Street.

An inspection by OSHA’s Hartford Area Office found that not only did the trench lack any protection to prevent the walls from collapsing onto workers; the cave-in hazard was intensified by the presence of an unsupported sidewalk and catch basin overhanging the trench. OSHA standards require that trenches or excavations 5 feet or deeper be protected against collapse through shoring, sloping of the soil or use of a protective trench box. Even after being informed that the conditions posed an imminent danger, the employer continued to send workers into the trench. These hazards resulted in citations for two willful violations with $140,000 in fines. A willful violation is one committed with intentional knowing or voluntary disregard for the law’s requirements, or with plain indifference to worker safety and health.

Five serious violations with $29,000 in fines involve rocks and soil falling into the trench, not testing the sewer line for hazardous atmospheres, a lack of personal protective equipment and not adequately training the workers to recognize the hazards associated with their work. A serious violation occurs when there is substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result from a hazard about which the employer knew or should have known.

“This employer repeatedly sent its workers into harm’s way even after being told that the unguarded trench posed a clear, immediate and potentially deadly threat,” said Paul Mangiafico, OSHA’s area director in Hartford. “These workers could have been crushed or buried alive in seconds.”

Detailed information on trenching and excavation hazards as well as safe working procedures is available online at http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/trenchingexcavation/index.html.

OSHA has placed Penney Construction in its Severe Violator Enforcement Program, which mandates targeted follow-up inspections to ensure compliance with the law. Initiated in June 2010, the program focuses on recalcitrant employers that endanger workers by committing willful, repeat or failure-to-abate violations. For more information on SVEP, visit http://s.dol.gov/J3.

The citations can be viewed at http://www.osha.gov/ooc/citations/penneys-construction-314406406-01202012.pdf*.

OSHA proposes $354,000 in fines against recidivist Massachusetts contractor for cave-in hazards in Cambridge and Framingham

P. Gioioso & Sons Inc. repeatedly cited for unprotected trenches and excavations

A Hyde Park MA contractor with a long history of violating workplace safety standards faces a total of $354,000 in new proposed fines from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration, chiefly for exposing its employees to cave-in hazards at work sites in Cambridge and Framingham. Since 2000, P. Gioioso & Sons Inc., which is primarily engaged in the construction of underground water and sewer mains, had been cited seven times for repeat violations of OSHA’s trenching and excavation safety standards prior to the citations resulting from these most recent inspections.

“Time and again, this employer has chosen to ignore the law and, by doing so, placed its workers’ lives at risk,” said Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health Dr. David Michaels. “Employers who ignore basic, common-sense and legally required safeguards will face substantial fines and consequences.”

The Cambridge inspection was opened when an OSHA inspector observed a Gioioso employee working in an unprotected trench on Kimball Street. During the inspection, a section of the trench wall collapsed while the employee was still in the trench. The second inspection, at Grant and C Streets in Framingham, began after a concerned passer-by informed OSHA of workers in an unguarded trench. In both cases, OSHA found that the trenches lacked cave-in protection and a ladder or other safe means for workers to exit the trenches.

As a result of these conditions, OSHA has cited P. Gioioso & Sons Inc. for four willful violations, each carrying the maximum allowable penalty of $70,000. A willful violation is one committed with intentional knowing or voluntary disregard for the law’s requirements, or with plain indifference to worker safety and health.

“An unguarded excavation is only seconds away from becoming a grave,” said Marthe Kent, OSHA’s New England regional administrator. “While the worker in the Cambridge trench was fortunate not to have been injured when the trench’s sidewall collapsed, worker safety must not and can never be left to fortune. Responsible employers ensure that effective safety measures are in place and in use before their workers enter a trench.”

The contractor also has been cited for five serious violations, with $32,000 in fines, for allowing employees to be exposed to being struck by the counterweight of an excavator at the Cambridge work site and a variety of other hazards at the Framingham work site. A serious violation occurs when there is substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result from a hazard about which the employer knew or should have known.

Finally, P. Gioioso and Sons Inc. has been issued three repeat citations with $42,000 in fines for trenching and electrical hazards at the Framingham work site, including failing to maintain the minimum clearance between an energized power line and excavating equipment. A repeat violation exists when an employer previously has been cited for the same or a similar violation of a standard, regulation, rule or order at any other facility in federal enforcement states within the last five years. In this case, OSHA had cited the employer in 2009 for similar hazards at work sites in Somerville, Tewksbury and Boston.

This latest significant enforcement action qualifies P. Gioioso & Sons Inc. for placement in OSHA’s Severe Violator Enforcement Program, which mandates targeted follow-up inspections to ensure compliance with the law. Initiated in 2010, the program focuses on recalcitrant employers that endanger workers by committing willful, repeat or failure-to-abate violations. For more information on the program, visit http://www.osha.gov/dep/svep-directive.pdf*.

L & K Contracting Co. in Dothan is being cited with five safety violations by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration following a cave-in last September at an excavation site in Enterprise. One employee died and another was hospitalized after wet, heavy soil collapsed into a deep trench while the men were installing a sewer pipe.

“An unprotected trench can become a grave in seconds if its walls cave in on workers,” said Kurt Petermeyer, OSHA’s area director in Mobile. “In this case, the soil was saturated with water, and the company failed to take the necessary measures to effectively protect the workers against this collapse.”

OSHA issued three willful citations for the company’s failure to take adequate action to protect workers from soil that fell into the excavation, protect workers from hazards associated with water accumulation in an excavation and ensure that workers wore appropriate personal protective equipment while in the trench. A willful violation exists when an employer has demonstrated either an intentional disregard for the requirements of the law or plain indifference to employee safety and health.

One serious citation was issued for allowing employees to work inside a trench approximately 10 feet deep without a safe means of exit from the excavation, and one other-than-serious citation was issued for failing to report the fatality to OSHA within the required eight-hour time period. A serious citation is issued when there is substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result from a hazard about which the employer knew or should have known. An other-than-serious violation is one that has a direct relationship to job safety and health, but in and of itself probably would not cause death or serious physical harm.

OSHA standards require that all trenches and excavations 5 feet or deeper be protected against collapse. Detailed information on hazards and safeguards related to trenching and excavation is available online at http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/trenchingexcavation/index.html.

The company specializes in the installation of sewer lines in southeast Alabama.

L & K Contracting has been assessed $159,600 in proposed penalties.

US Department of Labor seeks court order to require Gerardi Sewer & Water Co. to notify OSHA of jobsites to protect against cave-ins after being issued 13 citations, $360,000 for failing to protect workers

The U.S. Department of Labor is seeking an administrative court order requiring Gerardi Sewer & Water Co., a Norridge, Ill.-based contractor, to provide a monthly report of its work locations to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, permit unannounced jobsite audits by qualified independent consultants and annually train workers on cave-in protection for the next two years.

“The company’s severe violator history has led us to seek this order to ensure that these worksites are safe for employees,” said Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA Dr. David Michaels. “Cave-ins are the leading cause of death in trenching operations, and Gerardi Sewer & Water Co. has demonstrated a history of blatant disregard for worker safety.”
The Labor Department filed an administrative complaint with the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission after the company contested 13 citations and $360,000 in penalties issued Dec. 17, 2010, by OSHA. In addition to asking the review commission to uphold the cited violations and penalties, the Labor Department is requesting the order for additional compliance requirements to assure the safety of workers on future jobsites.

The company received the citations for failing to protect workers from cave-ins during trenching operations noted in four separate inspections conducted in 2010 under the OSHA Trenching and Excavation Special Emphasis Program. The citations are for work performed for the Illinois villages of Elmhurst, Park Ridge, Oak Lawn and Des Plaines.

“This is only the second time that the department has invoked the statutory authority to order ‘other appropriate relief,” said Solicitor of Labor M. Patricia Smith. “All available legal tools will be used where necessary to protect workers from future harm.”

Margaret A. Sewell, a trial attorney in the Chicago Regional Office of the Labor Department’s Office of the Solicitor, filed the administrative complaint with the review commission.

Gerardi’s December citations meet the requirements of OSHA’s Severe Violator Enforcement Program, which is intended to focus OSHA enforcement resources on employers with a history of safety violations that endanger workers by demonstrating indifference to their responsibilities under the law. This enforcement tool includes mandatory OSHA follow-up inspections and inspections of other worksites of the same employer where similar hazards and deficiencies may be present.

Gerardi Sewer & Water Co. fined during work in four municipalities

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has issued Gerardi Sewer & Water Co. in Norridge, IL eight willful, two serious and three repeat safety citations for failing to protect workers from cave-ins during trenching operations. The citations arose from work the company performed in the Illinois villages of Elmhurst, Park Ridge, Oak Lawn and Des Plaines. Gerardi faces proposed penalties of $360,000.

“Cave-ins are a leading cause of worker fatalities during excavations,” said Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA Dr. David Michaels. “At each of these four jobsites, Gerardi’s president and foreman were present and still failed to protect their workers despite their knowledge of required safety procedures. This situation demonstrates a systemic problem with the way this company approaches safety and demonstrates an egregious disregard for workers’ lives.”

OSHA issued willful citations alleging that Gerardi failed to properly protect workers from trench cave-ins, the result of four separate inspections conducted under the OSHA Trenching and Excavation Special Emphasis Program. The inspections occurred June 25 in Elmhurst, July 28 in Park Ridge, Sept. 21 in Oak Lawn and Nov. 17 in Des Plaines. A willful violation is one committed with intentional knowing or voluntary disregard for the law’s requirements or with plain indifference to worker safety and health.

OSHA standards mandate that all excavations 5 feet or deeper be protected against collapse. Employees were found to be working at varying depths from 5.9 to 8 feet without cave-in protection during the inspections.

“OSHA implemented a Trenching and Excavation Special Emphasis Program in the 1980s, so the industry is well aware of the safety regulations for trenching operations,” said OSHA Area Director Kathy Webb in North Aurora, Ill. “Gerardi Sewer & Water has been inspected and cited by OSHA numerous times. There is no excuse for noncompliance at its jobsites.”

Gerardi Sewer & Water Co. was issued repeat citations alleging that employees failed to wear hard hats and high-visibility vests at the Elmhurst site, and that Gerardi failed to provide a safe means of access and egress for employees working in an excavation site in Des Plaines. A repeat citation is issued when an employer previously has been cited for the same or a similar violation of a standard, regulation, rule or order at any other facility in federal enforcement states within the last five years.

The company was issued serious citations for allegedly failing to ensure that water accumulations were removed from a trench at both the Elmhurst and Des Plaines sites. A serious citation is issued when there is substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result from a hazard about which the employer knew or should have known.

This case meets the criteria for OSHA’s Severe Violators Enforcement Program. Initiated in the spring of 2010, SVEP is intended to focus on recalcitrant employers who endanger workers by committing willful, repeat or failure-to-abate violations. For more information on SVEP, go to http://www.osha.gov/dep/svep-directive.pdf*.

Prior to the four inspections detailed above, Gerardi Sewer and Water Co. had been inspected by OSHA eight times since 1987, resulting in 15 prior citations.

Question: We have found that in certain circumstances, having a ladder in a trench box makes it difficult to provide our employees with enough room to work safely while installing underground drain, sewer, and water pipes. We would like to institute the following alternative procedure during those instances: (1) Once the employees have used the ladder to enter the trench box, the ladder will be removed and kept ready for use at the exit point just outside the box; (2) Two workers trained in the procedure will remain at the exit point just outside the box so that they can immediately lower the ladder in the event of an emergency or when the employees otherwise need to egress the trench; (3) The two workers outside the trench would be in uninterrupted communication with the workers inside the trench for the period during which the ladder has been removed. 

A Job Hazard Analysis would be provided to all superintendents detailing the basic job steps, potential hazards, and this procedure in the event the ladder is removed, which includes training for two workers who will be responsible for removing the ladder, communicating with the worker(s) inside of the trench, and inserting the ladder in case of an emergency. Would this be in compliance with 29 CFR 1926.651(c)(2)? 

Answer: Section 1926.651(c)(2) states:

Means of egress from trench excavations. A stairway, ladder, ramp or other safe means of egress shall be located in trench excavations that are 4 feet (1.22 m) or more in depth so as to require no more than 25 feet (7.62 m) of lateral travel for employees. [Italics in original, emphasis added]

Thus, §1926.651(c)(2) requires a safe means of egress to be located in trench excavations that are 4 feet (1.22 m) or more in depth. Please note that §1926.651(c)(2) does not exclusively require the use of ladders during trenching activities; a “stairway, ramp, or other safe means of egress” may be utilized. However, regardless of the means of egress employed, it must be available for use by the employees at all times. 

In an emergency situation, the system you describe would involve a delay between the occurrence of the need, the recognition by the employees outside of the trench of that need, and the time it would take to lower the ladder. Also, the complexity of such a system makes it inherently more susceptible to failure than a simple requirement to have a ladder or similar means of egress in place in the trench. Consequently, the system you describe would not be considered an “other safe means of egress” under 1926.651(c)(2). 

You indicate in your question that maintaining a ladder in the restricted space within the trench box in certain situations would create a greater hazard. However, in light of the necessity for immediate egress in the event of an emergency, we are unaware of safety problems that would be caused by the presence of the ladder that would pose a greater hazard than its absence. 

Richard E. Fairfax, Acting Director
Directorate of Construction

OSHA urges employers to heed safety standards when employees work in excavations

WESTBURY, N.Y. – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited Antorino Sewer & Drain, an Islandia, N.Y., contractor, for seven alleged serious violations of workplace safety standards following a Dec. 8, 2009, incident in which a worker became trapped in a 16-foot hole while installing a cesspool at an East Hills, N.Y., residential worksite. The contractor faces a total of $11,700 in proposed fines.

The citations were issued after OSHA’s investigation found that the excavation lacked cave-in protection, did not have a ladder or other safe means of exit, had excavated material stored at its edge and had not been inspected by a competent person with knowledge and authority to identify and correct such hazards. In addition, the employee lacked a protective helmet and had accessed the excavation by riding in the bucket of a backhoe. OSHA issues serious citations when death or serious physical harm is likely to result from hazards about which the employer knew or should have known.

“Although no worker was seriously injured in this particular instance, the possibility of death or severe injury was real and present,” said Anthony Ciuffo, OSHA’s Long Island area director. “An unprotected excavation can become a grave in seconds and nearly did so here. This incident is a stark example of how dangerous it can be inside an excavation that lacks proper sloping or shoring, especially in the low cohesive and sandy soil we have here on Long Island.”

“Warmer weather will bring an increase in excavation work and an increase in excavation hazards if employers fail to follow basic, common sense and legally required safeguards,” said Robert Kulick, OSHA’s regional administrator in New York. “I urge all employers conducting excavation work to assign a trained and competent person to examine each excavation and ensure it adheres to OSHA standards before they have workers enter them.”

OSHA standards require that all excavations five feet or deeper be sloped or shored or otherwise protected against collapse. Detailed information on excavation hazards and safeguards is available on line at http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/trenchingexcavation/index.html.

Antorino Sewer and Drain has 15 business days from receipt of its citations and proposed penalties to comply, meet with the OSHA area director or contest the findings before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission. The inspections were conducted by OSHA’s Long Island Area Office in Westbury; telephone 516-334-3344 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              516-334-3344      end_of_the_skype_highlighting.

Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, employers are responsible for providing safe and healthful workplaces for their employees. OSHA’s role is to assure these conditions for America’s working men and women by setting and enforcing standards, and providing training, education and assistance. For more information, visit http://www.osha.gov.

U.S. Department of Labor releases are accessible on the Internet at http://www.dol.gov. The information in this news release will be made available in alternate format (large print, Braille, audiotape or disc) from the COAST office upon request. Please specify which news release when placing your request at 202-693-7828 or TTY 202-693-7755. The Labor Department is committed to providing America’s employers and employees with easy access to understandable information on how to comply with its laws and regulations. For more information, please visit http://www.dol.gov/compliance.

Trenching safety hazards at two Massachusetts worksites have led to $166,950 in proposed fines for a Methuen, Mass., contractor. The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) cited L. Perrina Construction Co. Inc. for a total of 23 alleged willful, serious and other-than-serious violations of safety standards following inspections at worksites in Quincy and Lynnfield, where the company was installing water mains.

OSHA found that employees at both locations were exposed to cave-in hazards while working in trenches more than 6 feet deep that were not protected against the collapse of their sidewalls, exposed to struck-by hazards from material stored at a trench’s edge in Quincy and an undermined sidewalk in Lynnfield, and were not trained to recognize and avoid such hazards at either location. The Quincy trench also lacked a safe means of exit.

Additional hazards included damaged, inadequate or misused access ladders, a lack of inspections and safety training, electrical hazards, improper storage of flammables and incomplete recording of injuries and illnesses in Quincy. They also included damaged lifting slings, electrical hazards, no backup alarm on an earth mover and a lack of jobsite safety inspections in Lynnfield.

“An unguarded excavation is a tomb in waiting. Its walls can collapse in moments, crushing and burying workers beneath tons of soil before they have a chance to react or escape,” said Paul Mangiafico, OSHA’s area director for Middlesex and Essex counties.

“This deadly hazard is exacerbated when workers are not provided an effective means of safely entering and exiting the trench. No worker should enter a trench unless and until all required safeguards are in place and in use,” said Brenda Gordon, OSHA’s area director for Boston and southeastern Massachusetts.

Top Stories

OSHA has cited Atlas Excavating Inc. in West Lafayette, IN with two alleged willful violations for failing to follow federal workplace safety standards at a trenching operation. Proposed penalties total $130,200.

OSHA opened an inspection in May 2009 at excavation jobsites in Danville, IL after receiving information that employees were working in excavations as deep as 8 feet without cave-in protection. As a result of the inspection, OSHA has issued two willful violations to the company for failing to protect workers from cave-in hazards and one serious violation for failing to provide workers in a trench a means of exit.

OSHA defines a willful violation as one committed with plain indifference to or intentional disregard for employee safety and health. A serious citation is issued when there is substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result from a hazard about which the employer knew or should have known.

“It has long been known that cave-in fatalities are entirely preventable,” said OSHA Area Director Nick Walters in Peoria, Ill. “Any employer involved in trenching and excavation can protect its workers by following OSHA’s clear regulations. Those who ignore safe practices and OSHA regulations are inviting tragedy into the lives of workers and their families.”

Atlas Excavating has been inspected in Indiana by OSHA seven times since 2000 with numerous serious violations issued.

In July Kentucky OSHA inspected an MSD (Metropolitan Sewer District) worksite at 425 Browns Lane in Louisville and hit MSD with over $102,000 in penalties and two repeat citations. One citation was for not conducting daily inspections of an excavation and the protective equipment systems. The other citation was for having employees in a trench over five feet deep without any cave-in protection system in place.

MSD also received a serious citation for leaving a covered excavation with plywood overtop the hole and not labeling it with the words “hole” or “cover”.

Top Stories