ConDig (15-Feb–22). The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has fined an employer $624,777 for his involvement in a double fatality at a downtown Boston worksite in February last year.
Laurence Moloney and his successor company were cited for failing to provide employees with essential and required safeguards at an East Boston residential construction site.
Responding to a complaint indicating employees were exposed to excavation hazards while working in a foundation, OSHA said that 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 Galen Blanton in Boston. “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.”
In August 2021, OSHA cited Moloney and his companies and proposed $1,350,884 in penalties, for 28 violations following the deaths of two workers in a trench on High Street in downtown Boston. 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.
In December, the agency fined a Leawood, Kansas-based contractor $223,329 for exposing workers to asbestos and other workplace hazards.
The agency cited Compass Resources LLC for failing to follow federal respiratory protection requirements, provide drinking water and hygiene facilities, and remove damaged electrical cords.
Also in December, OHSA fined a Queens, New York, contractor $374,603 for failure to provide and ensure the use of effective fall protection safeguards.
In August, OSHA fined a Millersburg, Ohio-based contractor and its owner $136,453 for exposing workers to deadly fall hazards for the sixth time in three years.
The agency said inspectors observed roofers employed by JMH Roofing LLC working up to 24 feet off the ground on a worksite in April.