BOSTON — The Department of Labor Wednesday proposed hefty fines for a contractor described as having an extensive history of violations, including a fatal incident in Boston earlier this year.
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On February 24, at a sewer repair worksite on High Street, Jordy Alexander Castaneda Romero, 27, and Juan Carlos Figueroa Gutierrez, 33, died when a truck hit and pushed them into a 9-foot deep trench.
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The Department of Labor said in a news release their employer, Atlantic Coast Utilities LLC/Advanced Utilities Inc., its predecessor company Shannon Construction Corp., their owner Laurence Moloney and successor company, Sterling Excavation LLC, that incident is the latest in a long history of ignoring the safety and health of its employees.
“Two hardworking people lost their lives because Atlantic Coast Utilities put its own profits over workers’ safety and health,” said U.S. Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh. “The failure of employers to follow federal safety and health regulations designed to keep workers out of harm’s way is absolutely unacceptable. This is yet another reminder of why the department’s mission to protect workers’ rights and ensure safe working conditions is so important.”
After an investigation by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the agency cited the Wayland contractor for 28 “willful, repeat, serious and other-than-serious violations.”
Because of the severity and nature of the hazards, OSHA proposed a total of $1,350,884 in penalties.
Prior to the February incident, OSHA inspected Atlantic Coast Utilities LLC/Advanced Utilities Inc. and Shannon Construction Corp. six times and cited them for a total of 14 violations, including willful, repeat and serious violations, with fines of $81,242, of which $73,542 was unpaid and has been referred to debt collection.
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