OSHA Upholds Penalty for Contractor

October 9, 2023

New Jersey firm reached settlement with OSHA

  • OSHA reached a settlement agreement with a New Jersey building contractor who allowed their subcontractors’ employees to work in close proximity to high-voltage power lines at a Paterson work site in 2021 and 2022.
  • The deal upholds Litana Development, Inc.’s, safety citations, affirming a $180,000 penalty.
  • The litigation followed inspections that found that Litana Development, based in Wayne, New Jersey, was allowing workers employed by four subcontractors — Prata Construction LLC of Denville, Konopka Construction Inc. of Hillside, Freitas Construction LLC of Carteret, and Elite Brothers Construction LLC of Paterson — to be exposed to potentially deadly electrical hazards.
  • In its 2021 inspection, OSHA found Litana acting as the general contractor, permitted workers to erect scaffolds and work between five and seven feet from live power lines.
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More trouble for Dollar General

  • OSHA inspectors opened an inspection at the Dollar General store in Crandon, Wisconsin.
  • They identified three repeat electrical safety violations, including connecting two movable power taps in ways not recommended by their UL listing and safety label, having an outlet without a cover or faceplate and using flexible wiring when fixed wiring was required.
  • OSHA cited the company for similar violations in 2020 and 2022 in Troy, New Hampshire as well as Mobile and South Ashland, Alabama. In addition, the agency identified one other-than-serious violation for not stacking or securing stackable totes to prevent them from sliding or collapsing.
  • The agency proposed $147,334 in penalties.
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OSHA and cyberattacks

  • There is no specific OSHA standard addressing cyberattacks as a workplace hazard.
  • However, if a cyberattack compromised the use of robotic machinery, which then injured an employee, certain OSHA standards might be implicated.
  • Still, it would be difficult to interpret the general duty clause so aggressively as to require employers to take certain affirmative steps to prevent cyberattacks as an OSHA compliance issue.
  • If such injuries become more common, OSHA might consider the application of the general duty clause.
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Indiana OSHA opens investigation after worker killed

  • A construction worker in Indianapolis who was killed near the University of Indiana Health Methodist Hospital has been identified as 28-year-old Luis Alberto Orozco Gonzalez.
  • Gonzalez was killed when a beam collapsed. Officers found a large piece of the IU Health People Mover Tram track lying across a roadway.
  • Crews are in the process of removing part of the track between 12th St. and 16th St.
  • MPD investigators handed off their findings to the Indiana Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
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