OSHA Uses 'Egregious Citation Policy,' Fines Contractor $1.3M for Worker Deaths

Friday, August 20, 2021 | 0

The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration invoked an "egregious citation policy" in fining a contractor $1.3 million after two workers died at a sewer repair work site in Boston.

Jordy Alexander Castaneda Romero, 27, and Juan Carlos Figueroa Gutierrez, 33, died Feb. 24 after they were hit by a dump truck and pushed into a 9-foot trench.

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

The agency also said the Wayland, Massachusetts-based trenching and underground construction contractor failed to conduct work site inspections to identify and correct hazards, including the risks of being struck by construction vehicles, crushed or engulfed in an unguarded trench and being overcome by oxygen-deficient or toxic atmospheres in a trench or manhole.

“Given the severity and nature of the recent hazards, and Atlantic Coast Utilities LLC/Advanced Utilities Inc. and its predecessor company's history of violations, OSHA used its egregious citation policy, which allows the agency to propose a separate penalty for each instance of a violation,” the workplace safety regulator said in a statement. “OSHA has proposed a total of $1,350,884 in penalties.”

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

In a separate enforcement activity, OSHA opened an investigation into Sterling Excavation LLC, the successor company to Atlantic Coast Utilities LLC/Advanced Utilities Inc., on Aug. 13 in response to a complaint about excavation hazards at another work site in Boston.