The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has once again cited Laurence Moloney, who was involved in the February 2021 double fatality at a downtown Boston worksite, for failing to provide employees with essential and required safeguards–this time at a residential construction site in East Boston.
Responding to a complaint indicating that Moloney’s employees were exposed to excavation hazards while working in a foundation at the 18 Crestway Rd project in Orient Heights, OSHA inspectors found employees exposed to cave-in and other potentially life-threatening hazards.
“Less than six months after being cited for egregious willful violations in the deaths of two employees in an excavation, this serial violator again exposed employees to potentially fatal cave-in and struck-by hazards,” said OSHA Regional Administrator in Boston Galen Blanton. “While Laurence Moloney may reincorporate and operate under a variety of names, what is consistent is his pattern of willfully violating safety and health requirements, ignoring OSHA citations and penalties and persistently placing employees in harm’s way.”
OSHA has fined Moloney $624,777 for his latest violation and put his company on OSHA’s repeat offender watch list.
Last year Maloney and his company were cited and fined over $1.3 million by OSHA for the deaths of Jordy Romero and Juan Carlos Figueroa.
Romero was killed instantly alongside his co-worker, Figueroa, after a construction truck accidentally knocked the two into a trench that was 20 feet deep. Both Romero and Figueroa were part of the construction crew doing work on High Street in Downtown Boston. They worked for Moloney’s Atlantic Coast Utilities. The company was hired to make an emergency repair on a sewer line.
Moloney and his companies had to pay $1,350,884 in penalties for 28 violations following the deaths of Romero and Figueroa. Those citations and penalties are currently being contested. Under various names, including Shannon Construction Corp. and Atlantic Coast Utilities LLC, Moloney and his companies have an extensive history of OSHA trenching and excavation violations dating back almost 20 years. Six previous inspections of his companies resulted in the issuance of 14 willful repeat and serious violations, with $81,242 in penalties, $73,542 of which are unpaid and have been referred to debt collection.
Moloney now meets the requirements for OSHA’s Severe Violator Enforcement Program.
Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, employers are responsible for providing safe and healthful workplaces for their employees. OSHA’s role is to ensure these conditions for America’s workers by setting and enforcing standards, and providing training, education and assistance
At the Eastie site, OSHA determined that Moloney would have to ensure cave-in protection for each employee working in an excavation; Provide adequate protection to prevent loose rock or soil from falling into the excavation; Instruct each employee in the recognition and avoidance of unsafe conditions; Conduct frequent and regular inspections of the job site to identify and correct hazards; Ensure stability of adjoining buildings, walls, or other structures endangered by excavation operations; Ensure that a competent person identified all confined spaces employees were to enter; Provide adequate helmets to protect employees against impact and penetration by falling and flying objects.