Construction Materials

Department of Labor finds Miami company’s safety deficiencies contributed to diver’s drowning during dredging work in canal MIAMI – The U.S. Department of Labor has found that a Miami excavation contractor with a history of federal workplace safety violations could have prevented the death of a 48-year-old diver – who drowned while removing debris in a canal in 8 feet of murky water – by having required rescue procedures in place. The department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited Downrite Engineering Corp. for 18 serious violations after its investigation into the January 2023 incident. The agency has proposed $258,935 in penalties. Since 2018, OSHA has cited Downrite Engineering for various safety violations, including in 2019 for failing to provide an injured worker with prompt medical attention and not having medical services and first aid readily available. “Our investigation found Downrite Engineering Corp. did not follow required standards to protect workers w...

Department of Labor announces hazard alert, steps up enforcement as extreme heat endangers workers across the nation WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced that its Occupational Safety and Health Administration has issued a heat hazard alert to remind employers of their obligation to protect workers against heat illness or injury in outdoor and indoor workplaces. The department also announced that OSHA will intensify its enforcement where workers are exposed to heat hazards, with increased inspections in high-risk industries like construction and agriculture. These actions will fully implement the agency’s National Emphasis Program on heat, announced in April 2022, to focus enforcement efforts in geographic areas and industries with the most vulnerable workers. The action comes as President Biden announced new actions today to protect workers from extreme heat and new investments to protect communities, as historically high temperatures break records and expose mill...

US Department of Labor recovers $58K in back wages for plumbers working on federal project in New Orleans area   Employer name:                   AHG Services LLC  Investigation site:                2225 Piedmont St.                                                        Kenner, LA 70062                                                Investigation findings: The investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division has recovered $57,590 in back wages for five emplo...

US Department of Labor finds Pennsylvania contractor failed to follow safety requirements after investigation of lineman’s fatal electrocution in Miami MIAMI – A U.S. Department of Labor investigation into the electrocution of a 32-year-old worker in Miami found the lineman’s employer failed to make certain its crews working near overhead power lines followed required safety measures. An inspection into the January 2023 incident by the department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration learned that a digger derrick truck used by employees of Concurrent Group LLC was parked beneath energized overhead power lines when the worker began operating the truck’s boom to unload a metal crossbeam. As they raised the boom, it contacted the 7,620-volt power line sending electricity through the truck and into the surrounding ground. The lineman jumped from the truck and suffered a fatal electrocution. OSHA issued citations for five serious violations to Concurrent Group LLC of Blue Bell, P...

US Department of Labor, North Dakota Safety Council renew alliance to educate North Dakota employers, make workplaces safer Who:               U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration North Dakota Safety Council What:             Alliance renewal Background: On July 10, 2023, OSHA’s Bismarck Area Office Director Scott Overson and North Dakota Safety Council Executive Director Chuck Clairmont renewed an alliance that provides employers and workers with information, training resources and guidance on preventing workplace hazards. The alliance focuses on common hazards found in North Dakota’s trenching and excavation, construction, grain-handling, warehousing and oil and gas industries. The alliance is now in effect for 5 years. First signed in February 2020, the alliance continues to develop training and education programs using injury, illnes...

Department of Labor finds Newark contractor willfully exposed workers to fall hazards in 6 inspections in three months, proposes $333K in fines MARLTON, NJ – A series of inspections by the U.S. Department of Labor has found a Newark-based construction contractor defying federal safety regulations by exposing employees to more than 20 violations, including potentially deadly falls, at six southern and central New Jersey work sites in early 2023. Workplace safety and health inspections by the department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration identified 21 violations by Main Line Contractor Corp. in Berlin, Cape May, Lakewood, Mount Holly and Mount Laurel. Many of the violations related to the framing and sheathing company’s failure to provide or require the use of protective equipment to prevent falls from elevations greater than 6 feet, the construction industry’s leading cause of death. In January 2023, OSHA opened its initial investigation in Mount Laurel under the agenc...

Investigators find Cheney contractor exposed employees to potentially fatal hazards as two workers avoid tragedy in Salina trench collapse SALINA, KS ‒ In a trench 9 feet below the surface, a worker employed by Precision Plumbing LLC was connecting a plumbing line to the municipal sewer in Salina in January when he was buried under dirt and rocks after a trench wall collapsed. The company’s foreman entered the trench and tried to dig the worker out. Soon after, he then became buried up to his knees when the trench wall collapsed further. For more than an hour, first responders worked to rescue the two workers. Both survived one of the construction industry’s most serious hazards. In an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration, inspectors determined the trench had no protection against cave-ins and the employer allowed soil piles and equipment within 2 feet of the excavation’s edge. OSHA found Precision Plumbing’s violations of these...

Department of Labor again cites Paramount Builders for endangering employees’ safety, health at work sites across American Samoa PAGO PAGO, AS ‒ A Pago Pago building construction company’s long history of violations of federal workplace safety and health laws continued after inspections at two American Samoa work sites where the employer exposed workers to numerous dangerous hazards. Since 2018, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited Paramount Builders Ltd. with 22 serious violations, including willful and repeat failures, in 26 inspections. The company’s history includes fall protection failures that led to an employee’s 24-foot fatal fall in May 2013 as they painted rafters. During a January 2023, OSHA found Paramount Builders once again endangering its employees. The agency cited the company for 21 violations — including nine serious, six willful and six repeat serious violations — and proposed $1,088,681 in penalties.  Speci...

US Department of Labor finds The de Moya Group could have prevented fatal, serious injuries after concrete pile struck aerial lift over I-95 in 2022 MIAMI – One worker died and a second needed a month’s hospitalization for a serious leg fracture after falling 35 feet when a suspended concrete pile struck the aerial lift in which they worked in December 2022. U.S. Department of Labor investigators determined their employer, The de Moya Group Inc. of Miami could have prevented the tragedy by following federal workplace safety standards. Investigators with the department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration learned that a 90-foot long, 18- by 18-inch concrete pile weighing 35,000 pounds broke free of its restraints when the supporting crane shifted in unstable soil and then struck the lift’s boom, causing the two carpenters to fall onto the roadway below. A 46-year-old worker suffered fatal injuries while his 52-year-old co-worker sustained serious leg injuries. The incident o...