Region 1 News Release: BOS 2000-010
Friday, January 21, 2000
Contact: John M. Chavez
PHONE: (617) 565-2075
OSHA CITES NORTH READING, MASS., CONSTRUCTION COMPANY FOR ALLEGED
WILLFUL & SERIOUS TRENCHING SAFETY VIOLATIONS AT A WILMINGTON, MASS.,
EXCAVATION SITE; $81,000 IN PENALTIES PROPOSED
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) of the U.S.
Department of Labor has cited Revoli Construction Co., Inc., of North
Reading, Massachusetts, for alleged WILLFUL and SERIOUS violations of the
Occupational Safety and Health Act at an excavation site opposite 271 Main
Street, Wilmington, Mass. The agency is proposing a total of $81,000 in
penalties for the alleged violations.
According to K. Frank Gravitt, OSHA area director for northeastern
Massachusetts, the alleged violations were discovered during an inspection
of the construction site on November 17, 1999. "What our compliance
officer found," he said, "included employees working in an
unprotected 7 foot deep trench, not wearing hard hats and having no safe
means of egress. These employees were exposed to serious injuries or death
since the sides of an unprotected trench can collapse with great force and
without warning, stunning and burying workers beneath tons of soil before
they have a chance to react or escape. Though no collapse occurred in this
case, that in no way relieves this employer of the responsibility of
providing this required safeguard."
Gravitt explained that OSHA's excavation safety standard requires that
excavations five feet or deeper must have a protective system in place to
prevent cave-ins. Such protection can be supplied by shoring the trench's
sidewalls or by sloping those sidewalls at a shallow angle. Yet, he noted,
neither safeguard was in place or in use in the excavation at the time of
the inspection.
"Most troubling," he said, "is the fact that this
employer is quite familiar with OSHA's excavation safety requirements as
evidenced, unfortunately, by their past history of safety violations. Over
the past 13 years, OSHA has inspected this company's job sites 14 times
and has cited this employer for 56 alleged safety and health violations,
including around 30 involving trenching safety. Therefore, we have no
choice but to cite Revoli Construction Co. for an alleged willful
violation of the law."
He explained that OSHA defines a "willful" violation as one
committed with an intentional disregard of, or plain indifference to, the
requirements of the Occupational Safety and Health Act and the law's
regulations. It is, he noted, the most severe category of OSHA violation.
Specifically, the company is being cited for the following alleged
safety violations:
 | One alleged WILLFUL violation, carrying a $63,000 proposed penalty,
for: exposing employees to serious injuries or death while working
within an excavation 7 feet deep without sloping, bracing or shoring
to prevent collapse of the sidewalls. |
| Four alleged SERIOUS violations, including proposed penalties
totaling $18,000 for: allowing employees to work within a 7 foot deep
trench without hard hats; allowing employees to work within a 7 foot
deep trench without a safe means of egress; exposing employees working
in a 7 foot deep trench to the hazards of excavated materials stored
at the edge of the trench; and, exposing employees to a trench cave-in
hazard by failing to have a competent person regularly and frequently
inspect the work area. [A serious violation is defined as one in which
there is substantial probability that death or serious physical harm
could result, and the employer knew, or should have known, of the
hazard.] |
Gravitt urged Northeastern Massachusetts employers and employees with
questions regarding safety and health standards to contact the OSHA area
office in Methuen. He added that OSHA's toll-free nationwide hotline --
1-800-321-OSHA (1-800-321-6742) -- may be used to report workplace
accidents and fatalities or situations posing imminent danger to workers,
especially those situations which occur outside of normal business hours.
OSHA is empowered by the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 to
issue standards and rules requiring employers to provide their employees
with safe and healthful workplaces and jobsites, and to assure through
workplace inspections that those standards are followed.
The company has 15 working days from receipt of the citations and
proposed penalties to either elect to comply with them, request and
participate in an informal conference with the OSHA area director, or
contest them before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review
Commission.
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