BOSTON (WHDH) - Federal authorities have proposed a fine of $1.3 million for a company with an “extensive history” of violations, including an incident in Boston earlier this year that resulted in the deaths of two construction workers.
An investigation into the Wayland-based Atlantic Coast Utilities revealed 28 “willful, repeat, serious, and other-than-serious” violations, according to the United States Department of Labor.
Two of the company’s employees, 27-year-old Jordy Alexander Castaneda Romero and 33-year-old Juan Carlos Figueroa Gutierrez, died after a dump truck struck and pushed them into a nine-foot deep trench at a sewar repair site on High Street in downtown Boston in late February.
Occupational Safety and Health Administration investigators cited the company for the workers’ deaths and proposed $1,350,884 in penalties.
Chief among the violations was the company’s refusal to train Romero, Gutierrez, and other workers to recognize and avoid work-related hazards, OSHA said. The company also allegedly failed to conduct worksite inspections to identify and correct hazards, including the risks of being struck by construction vehicles and other traffic, crushed or engulfed in an unguarded trench, and being overcome by oxygen-deficient or toxic atmospheres in the trench and an adjacent manhole.
“Two hardworking people lost their lives because Atlantic Coast Utilities put its own profits over workers’ safety and health,” U.S. Secretary of Labor Martin J. Walsh said in a news release. “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.”
In a statement, Atlantic Coast Utilities said, “The principals and staff of Atlantic Coast Utilities were devastated by the terrible accident last February and continue to grieve for Jordan Romero and Juan Gutierrez and their families. The company will assess the actions taken by OSHA today and will determine its next steps, including contesting any assertion of company error or negligence. It is clear that this was a tragic accident and any attempt to portray it otherwise is both inaccurate and imprudent.”
Prior to the February incident, OSHA inspected the company six separate times and cited them for 14 violations.
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