Company Faces More than $1 Million in OSHA Penalties in Worker Death

Boston, MA (WorkersCompensation.com) - A Boston-area company is facing $1.2 million in penalties after an OSHA inspection found it failed to protect its workers demolishing a government garage. 

Brockton, Mass.-based JDC Demolition was demolishing the Government Center garage in downtown Boston on March 26 when a partially demolished eighth floor collapsed, sending an 11,000-pound excavator and its operator to the ground below. Peter Monsini, 51, was on his first day on the job, when the floor collapsed, sending him in the excavator 80 feet down to his death. 

Officials at the time said Monsini was near the edge of the building when the floor beneath the machine "buckled," causing the machine to fall. 

After investigating the incident, OSHA released a report on Tuesday, that cited JDC Demolition for eight willful violations, two serious violations and one other than serious violation. 

According to the report, on the morning of the collapse, a foreman with the company ignored concerns about the floor's safety and assigned Monsini to operate the excavator without any safety briefing or training on how to proceed with the demolition. 

"Specifically, on the morning of the collapse, another heavy equipment operator, who had started demolition on a concrete beam on an upper floor bay, told the foreman they had concerns about the floor’s safety. Despite the employee raising safety concerns to the foreman, a second employee was assigned to operate the excavator. That worker, the deceased, never received a safety briefing and was not trained to follow the engineer’s demolition plan," the U.S. Department of Labor said in a release. "OSHA also found that JDC Demolition deviated from the demolition plan by imposing unsafe loads, in the form of heavy equipment, on the partially demolished seventh, eighth and ninth floors. The demolition plan prohibited the placement of heavy equipment on partially demolished floor bays." 

As a result, OSHA cited the company for eight willful violations - one for each worker exposed to hazardous conditions as a result of the load and training violations, and one for each floor where the same violations occurred. Each of the willful violations carries a penalty of $145,027. 

OSHA also cited the company for two serious violations regarding inadequate accident prevention, uncovered floor holes. Each of these violations carried a penalty of $14,502. The other than serious violation centered around poor record keeping in regard to the employee's death, and was subject to a $2,072 penalty. In total, the company received $1,191,292 in penalties regarding the incident. 

“JDC Demolition Company Inc. knew the heavy equipment on the partially demolished floors were over the weight limits and still allowed a worker, unaware of the hazards, to do demolition work,” said OSHA Regional Administrator Galen Blanton in Boston. “This willful and egregious disregard for safety cost a workers’ life and exposed other employees to potentially fatal hazards.” 

OSHA also cited John Moriarty and Associates, Inc., the general contractor for the project. Investigators said Moriarty and Associates failed to ensure the partially demolished precast concrete floors were strong enough to support the imposed load of mechanical equipment, failed to ensure employees were trained to recognize and avoid overloading of floors during demolition, failed to cover or secure floor holes, and failed to ensure "a competent person had adequately inspected the jobsite" during the demolition process. 

A total of $58,008 in penalties was proposed for Moriarty and Associates. 

Both of the companies have 15 business days to contest the findings, request an informal conference with OSHA's area director or to pay the penalties. In addition, the companies must place the citations in a place visible to their employees. 

"The law requires that a copy of this Citation and Notification of Penalty be posted immediately in a prominent place at or near the location of the violation(s) cited herein, or, if it is not practicable because of the nature of the employer's operations, where it will be readily observable by all affected employees," the citation said. "This Citation must remain posted until the violation(s) cited herein has (have) been abated, or for 3 working days (excluding weekends and Federal holidays), whichever is longer." 

According to its website, JDC Demolition, was established in 2012 as part of J.Derenzo, a New England site contractor. JDC's website said the company is one of New England's "premier firms specializing in selective and structural demolition, hazardous material removal, soil remediation, asset recovery and site preparation." 

The company said in an email interview that since its founding, it has never been found by OSHA to have violated any standards despite having performed some of the most high-profile dismantling projects int he Boston metropolitan area.

“JDC Demolition takes the safety and security of their employees extremely seriously and remains deeply saddened by the tragic loss of a team member," Lizzy Guyton, spokesperson for JDC Demolition, said. "JDC Demolition historically has had an excellent safety record. They have fully cooperated with OSHA's investigation and are carefully reviewing the citations, and will contest them as appropriate.”

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