Construction Materials

Department of Labor reaches settlement with Linden contractor after finding the company failed to prevent fatal 5-story fall at a Bayonne work site LINDEN, NJ  – The U.S. Department of Labor has reached a settlement agreement with a New Jersey contractor after a worker suffered a fatal fall at a Bayonne worksite in October 2023. The settlement followed an inspection by the department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration of Granite & Marble Services LLC of Linden after the Bayonne Police Department alerted the agency that a worker had suffered fatal injuries at a multi-unit residential building under construction.OSHA inspectors determined a 39-year-old worker had stepped onto an elevated platform to unload materials and fell from the building’s fifth level. The agency found that the employer did not secure the work platform fully to prevent it from tipping or from being dislodged from a telehandler’s forks. Granite & Marble Services also fail...

Waukegan roofing contractor finally pays $365K in penalties for endangering employees when Department of Labor moves to seize employer’s property CHICAGO – Joshua Herion, a Waukegan roofing contractor who has routinely endangered employees by ignoring federal workplace standards and penalties assesses for its violations since 2014, has paid $365,576 in fines and interest, after the U.S. Department of Labor moved to seize the employer’s assets as part of the department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration debt collection program.The action follows a January 2024 federal court’s default order to pay the outstanding penalties, attorney’s fees, and interest for repeatedly exposing employees to falls from elevations in 2022. Falls are the leading cause of death and serious injuries for people employed in the construction industry. Since 2014, OSHA has cited Herion and his companies nine times for violations related to fall protection. Using the judgment by Dis...

Department of Labor alleges subcontractor knowingly exposed employees to asbestos hazards during former Waukegan hospital demolition WAUKEGAN, IL – Alleging that K.L.F. Enterprises — a Chicago demolition subcontractor — knew it was exposing its employees and others to the serious dangers of asbestos at a Waukegan work site, the U.S. Department of Labor has cited the company for 36 safety and health violations after a federal investigation. In November 2023, investigators with the department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration opened a complaint inspection after they observed K.L.F. employees not wearing protective equipment amid piles of debris and steel I-beams during structural demolition of the eight-story former Lakes Behavioral Health hospital. OSHA determined that K.L.F. continued demolition activities — disturbing and removing asbestos used to fireproof the building’s interior — despite recognizing the debris piles outside were likely asbestos-laden. T...

Un juez confirma conclusiones de que subcontratista de Maryland negó a 55 trabajadores en un proyecto financiado con fondos federales, su salario completo y beneficios complementarios, debe US$186.000 WASHINGTON – Un juez de derecho administrativo confirmó las conclusiones de una investigación del Departamento de Trabajo de EE. UU. sobre las prácticas laborales de un subcontratista de concreto de Bowie, Maryland, y sus propietarios, que encontró que los empleadores clasificaron erróneamente a los trabajadores en un proyecto de viviendas asequibles financiado con fondos federales en el Distrito de Columbia, infringiendo las regulaciones federales.La acción sigue auna investigación de la División de Horas y Salarios del departamento, de V&V Construction Inc. y sus propietarios, Carlos y Cristina Vicente, que determinó que los empleadores clasificaron incorrectamente a los obreros maestros como obreros y, al hacerlo, les pagaron menos por las horas extras. Los empleadores ta...

US Department of Labor finds Watertown contractor did not provide required safeguards to prevent employee fatality in Brighton BRAINTREE, MA – The U.S. Department of Labor has determined that a Watertown roofing contractor again violated federal regulations for fall protections, following a workplace safety investigation into how an employee suffered fatal injuries after falling about 27 feet as they tried to carry materials and climb a ladder jack scaffold at a Brighton work site in September 2023.The department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited OJR Construction Inc. in March 2017 and September 2019 for failing to protect employees from fall hazards by complying with required safety standards.“Two previous OSHA inspections made it clear to OJR Construction what protections had to be in place to protect employees from potentially debilitating or deadly falls, but the company chose to ignore its responsibilities,” said OSHA Area Director Jame...

Department of Labor plans to restructure workplace safety, health regional operations strategically to protect workers WASHINGTON – The Department of Labor today announced strategic changes to the structure of its Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s regional operations designed to direct its resources effectively and make the agency more resilient. The changes include the creation of a new OSHA regional office in Birmingham, Alabama, overseeing agency operations in the state, and those in Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee as well as the Florida Panhandle. The Birmingham Region will address the area’s growing worker population and the hazardous work done by people employed in food processing, construction, heavy manufacturing and chemical processing.OSHA is also planning to merge Regions 9 and 10 into a new San Francisco Region to improve operations and reduce operating costs. As part of the changes, the agency will also rename its regions to...

Department of Labor encourages construction industry employers, stakeholders to join 2024 National Safety Stand-Down to Prevent Falls WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration is encouraging construction industry employers and workers across the nation to take part in its 11th annual National Stand-Down to Prevent Falls in Construction from May 6-10. The event focuses attention on preventing the industry’s leading cause of worker deaths.The national stand-down recommends employers and workers pause voluntarily during the workday for safety demonstrations, hazard recognition and fall prevention training, and “tool-box” talks about hazards, protective methods and their company’s safety policies, goals and expectations. This year, OSHA is partnering with Construction Safety Week, an organization of more than 70 national and global construction firms, to enlist employers in the U.S. to create the largest industry-wide cons...

Settlement affirms willful OSHA violations, $215K penalties, against contractors for fall hazards at multiple New Jersey work sites HASBROUCK HEIGHTS, NJ – Two related North Jersey construction contractor companies – Primetime Construction LLC and its subsidiary Primetime Contractors LLC of Paterson – have agreed to pay $215,000 in penalties and undertake several significant safety measures to resolve numerous safety violations found at five Paterson construction worksites in 2021, as part of a settlement with the U.S. Department of Labor.The department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration initially cited Primetime Contractors LLC for four willful violations that occurred in September 2021 after agency inspectors found the employer exposing workers to fall hazards by repeatedly failing to ensure construction site stairways at company worksites had handrails and stair rails, even after being counseled by OSHA about the relevant safety requirements. Primetime Contrac...

St. Louis contractor faces $258K in fines after exposing roofing workers to potentially deadly fall hazards 5 times in 7 weeks at Wentzville worksites ST. LOUIS – Federal workplace safety inspectors have cited a Missouri roofing contractor for 21 violations for illegally exposing roof workers — five times in seven weeks — at six Wentzville residential worksites to the dangers of fall hazards, the construction industry’s leading cause of serious injuries and death. The Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration opened its investigations after observing 13 Construction & Pro Services LLC allowing its employees to work on roofs without required protection equipment at separate sites on Oct. 31, Nov. 2 and Dec. 14, 2023.Specifically, OSHA alleges the company allowed employees to work without protection at heights greater than six feet, did not have a competent person inspect and evaluate job site hazards daily and failed to train workers to recognize ...

Department of Labor will celebrate benefits of Registered Apprenticeships as valuable pathway to good jobs during first Youth Apprenticeship Week WASHINGTON – The Department of Labor today announced that the nation will celebrate the benefits of Registered Apprenticeships and the opportunities they create for youth and young adults with 320 special events and more than 70 proclamations scheduled across the U.S. to mark the first annual Youth Apprenticeship Week from May 5-11. Built on the success of National Apprenticeship Week, Youth Apprenticeship Week will give employers, unions, educators, state agencies, workforce partners, community-based organizations and other Registered Apprenticeship sponsors the opportunity to showcase their programs and successes in youth apprenticeships. The annual commemoration also offers youth apprentices a platform on which they can share their apprenticeship experiences and educate the public about the benefits of local youth apprenticeship ...

Department of Labor awards $98M in grants to support training, employment services to young people, increase apprenticeships in high-demand careers WASHINGTON – The Department of Labor today announced the award of $98 million in grants to 72 organizations in 30 states and Guam to provide training and employment services in an ongoing effort to expand access to apprenticeship opportunities, prepare young workers for quality jobs and strengthen the nation’s workforce to meet industry demands. The department prioritized proposals that align training with local infrastructure projects funded by the Biden-Harris administration’s Investing in America agenda.These YouthBuild Program grants range from $700,000 to $1.5 million each and will support pre-apprenticeships to educate and train young people, ages 16-24, who are neither enrolled in school or now in the labor market, for jobs in construction and other high-demand industries. YouthBuild grants will help deliver educa...

US Department of Labor finds Georgia construction contractor could have prevented 31-year-old worker’s fatal fall in Arcadia ARCADIA, FL – A Georgia construction contractor’s failure to enforce safety regulations at an Arcadia worksite led to a 31-year-old steel erector suffering fatal fall injuries, an incident caused by the same workplace safety violations for which federal inspectors cited the employer just 10 months earlier.A U.S. Department of Labor Occupational Safety and Health Administration investigation determined a three-person crew employed by Landmark Erecting Inc. of Hahira was installing metal roofing sheets on a building in November 2023, when one worker fell 12 feet onto a concrete slab below and suffered traumatic head injuries. OSHA cited the employer for a repeat violation for again not ensuring a worker used fall protection as they walked along a roof frame. The agency cited the company for a similar violation at a Tallahassee workplace in Janua...