Whitestone supervisor busted for fake certificates

From the Queens Tribune:

A construction safety supervisor from Whitestone was arrested on Nov. 3 for allegedly possessing fake safety training certificates, the city’s Department of Investigation announced on Monday.

Andreas Tsamos, 49, was in charge of safety for a renovation project at the Fulton Houses Community Center in Manhattan when he was apprehended for the alleged fake documents.

On Nov. 2, DOI investigators discovered that an emergency fire exit door at the Tsamos’ job site was locked from the outside, preventing workers from leaving in the event of a fire. Additionally, there was no fall protection guardrail system installed where work was being done or on a scaffold that was installed at the site.

Following the discovery of the safety issues, investigators returned to the site on Nov. 3 to ask Tsamos, who works for Gem Quality Corporation of Brooklyn, to produce his safety credentials. As a site safety representative at Fulton Houses, Tsamos was required to hold a 30-hour safety certification from a training center approved by the United States Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).

According to DOI, Tsamos provided two certificates: a 10-hour approved OSHA course and a 30-hour approved OSHA course. The listed training company was “360Training.com,” but when investigators contacted the company, it allegedly confirmed that no individual with the defendant’s name had completed training courses on the date of the certificates. Additionally, the company said that all certificates bear the name of the courses that were taken. Tsamos’ certificates allegedly did not list the name of the courses.

Worker dies in "completely preventable" accident

From the Daily News:

A city hardhat plummeted 18 feet to his death Wednesday in what city officials called a “completely preventable” construction accident in Times Square.

Jose Cruz, 59, of Sunset Park, was helping remove part of a steel deck from a slab at 1604 Broadway, near W. 49th St., at about 11:05 a.m., when he fell from an I-beam near the second floor, officials said.

He died at Mount Sinai West.

“We think it was completely preventable,” said city Buildings Commissioner Rick Chandler.

“There should have been tie offs with his personal protection equipment, which he was wearing.”

In March 2016, the U.S. Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) hit Streamline USA with seven violations dubbed "serious" after its inspectors responded to a complaint about unsafe job conditions at the 1604 Broadway site. The agency hit the company with $19,200 in fines which Streamline is contesting.

A lot of worker deaths go uncounted

From Crains:

The Department of Buildings, which regulates construction, only tracks deaths that involve violations of the city’s construction code. The agency counted 12 fatalities in 2015, including that of a woman hit on the head while walking down the street next to a job site (a violation was issued for failure to safeguard the property).

Meanwhile, the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration recorded 17 construction-related fatalities in New York City, and did not include the death of the passerby.

The six fatalities that the city didn’t count include a military veteran who fell down an elevator shaft, a construction safety coordinator crushed by a crane, an ironworker who fell from a ladder and a truck driver caught in the driveshaft of his concrete mixer.

In each of the six cases, OSHA issued violations to the workers’ employers for failing to adhere to safety standards for head protection, fall protection and heat stress, among other violations. The agency slapped all of the contractors with fines of thousands of dollars.

But the Department of Buildings said the six deaths were not in its purview. The agency counts only fatalities that involve a threat to public safety—that is, to people other than construction workers.

Crackdown on fake OSHA cards

From the Daily News:

With the number of construction-related deaths on the rise, city investigators are quietly showing up at job sites and arresting workers with fake safety training cards, the Daily News has learned.

Workers are required to take safety courses run by the U.S. Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) to reduce accidents at job sites, but over the years there's been a growing problem with workers blowing off the courses and using fraudulent OSHA cards to claim they're trained.

Since the beginning of the year, more than 20 workers with allegedly bogus OSHA cards have been busted at city construction sites, sources familiar with the crackdown said.

The sweep — carried out by the Department of Investigation and the Buildings Department — comes as construction fatalities in New York City jumped to 18 in the last federal fiscal year, up from 12 the year before.

The latest arrests took place Oct. 17 with five workers led away in handcuffs at two sites where housing is going up in Queens and the Bronx.

Members of DOI, the Buildings Department and NYPD detectives arrested the five for possessing what they say are fake OSHA cards. Another 19 workers were pulled off the two job sites because they had no OSHA cards at all.

Construction fatalities on the rise

From Huffington Post:

2015 has been deadly in the construction sector with 11 construction site fatalities in New York City's past fiscal year, according to data compiled by the City of New York. This does not include the three devastating fatalities in the last two months that all occurred on construction worksites not up to code or lacking safety equipment, according to numerous complaints filed to the City.

That deadly sum exceeds New York City construction fatalities in all recent years and is up 83 percent over FY2014 and 120 percent since FY2013 (the city's fiscal calendar runs July 1 - June 30), representing the highest total since the current construction expansion began in 2008. While construction is a huge economic engine for New York City, it accounts for less than 4 percent of all New York State employment, yet an astounding 20 percent of all of the state's on-the-job deaths.

What's more, the Mayor's Management Report has identified that with hundreds of serious construction related accidents, injuries increased 34 percent in FY 2015, up 51 percent from both FY2013 and FY2012. So what is the cause of this and how can it be rectified?

Two trends are leading the increase. One is the obvious surge of new construction New York City has encountered, as the Department of Buildings issued 52,618 residential building permits in FY2015, up 156 percent from FY2014 and up a staggering 749 percent from FY2010.

The second is that data from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) shows that nonunion worksites also accounted for 75 percent of construction fatalities in 2014 and 72 percent between 2012-2013.

Blissville chemical company in hot water

From WPIX:

Luis Rodriguez is one of four men who recently shared their inside view of Ronbar Laboratories in Long Island City.

The factory off of Van Dam Street is where Rodriguez along with Carlos Vega, Courtney Lloyd and Pedro Hernandez worked for more than a combined 40 years, until they say it just got be too much.

“I was shocked to see what was going on,” said Vega.

“In my opinion, the owner did not care,” Lloyd added. “The safety of the public, his own safety, he did not care.”

The man that Lloyd says did not care is Sheldon Borgen, the owner of Ronbar Laboratories, a company that specializes in the production of cleaning supplies. But in a civil complaint filed in Queens County Court, the former employees state that in reality Ronbar maintains a workplace riddled with incredibly dangerous violations.

The former employees allege in the complaint that the company disposed of chemicals by dumping them into open sewers and pipes. Rodriguez said that the marching orders from management were simple: You don’t like it, you can get out.

The workers are alleging there were numerous federal, state and local laws, rules and regulations that were violated. One of those alleged infractions is not only prohibited by OSHA, but the city has banned it for more than a decade.

The New York City Smoke-Free Air Act of 2002 made the act of smoking illegal for businesses housed inside of buildings, factories and warehouses. However, inside the facility where highly flammable pure alcohol is alleged to be exposed, PIX11 News obtained video of a Ronbar employee smoking on the floor of the facility.

Construction deaths rise

From the NY Post:

The death toll at city-construction sites more than tripled last year, to 21 from six the year before, a federal report revealed.

Building collapses and falls caused eight deaths each, four hard hats were killed by construction equipment or falling debris, and another worker was killed by an unspecified hazard, according to an Occupational Safety and Health Administration report.

Manhattan had the most fatalities with nine, followed by Brooklyn and Queens with four each, The Bronx with three, and Staten Island one.

It was the most construction fatalities in the city since 2008.

City not protecting workers doing cleanup

From the Daily News:

Extra hands hired off the street are being sent into mold-infested, storm-damaged basements in public housing to clean with highly toxic chemicals but without proper equipment, gear or training, the Daily News has learned.

The Housing Authority first asked its union partners to help with the cleaning — but union officials refused, citing the lack of training or protective clothing.

So the city hired Belchor, an outside company, to do the work.

The company would not comment, but a top official with the federal agency that oversees worker safety said workers were not properly suited up for the jobs they were performing.

“There were (personal protective equipment) issues and they are addressing (it),” said Richard Mendelson, head of the New York office of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

Mendelson’s teams have inspected job sites in Queens and Brooklyn. As of Friday, OSHA inspectors had checked 2,215 sites, finding nearly 6,000 employees — one in three — working in hazardous conditions.

Hardhats busted for fake safety cards

From the NY Post:

Authorities have busted 30 construction workers at job sites in Manhattan and Brooklyn for allegedly carrying fake scaffold certification cards, the Department of Investigation announced yesterday.

The DOI said the arrests were the result of a two-week sweep with the Buildings Department, whose inspectors also issued full and partial stop-work orders at 14 of the sites.

One construction-company owner, identified as Manuel Rodriguez, was charged with possessing 32 of the bogus cards.

The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration cards are required to work on scaffolding and at large job sites.

The arrests were carried out at some of the city’s fanciest addresses, including 55, 530 and 502 Park Ave. and 923 Fifth Ave.

OSHA fines bad construction business

From the Times Ledger:

A Flushing construction firm is facing $94,380 in fines for repeatedly putting workers at risk for deadly falls or electric shocks, the U.S. Labor Department said last Thursday.

The fines stemmed from unprotected scaffolding, which exposed workers to the possibility of falling 15 feet onto a concrete sidewalk, according to OSHA. The contractor, Core Continental Construction, listed as being at 36-40 Main St., Suite 205, also used frayed and ungrounded extension cords to power a tile cutter, which could cause electrocution, the administration said.

The company is run by a man named Chunlin Chiang, according to state documents, but someone also appears to have listed the contractor under multiple addresses in corporation databases.

The firm’s name is registered several times with the New York Department of State with different numbers after it and several addresses.

OSHA has the firm’s address as 36-40 Main St., Suite 205, but state records show it is also listed at 140-37 Cherry Ave. and 140-14 Cherry Ave., Apt. 3B, depending on whether the record is for Core Continental Construction or Core Continental Construction 2, 3, v or 6.

OSHA previously cited hazardous conditions in 2008 and 2010 at construction sites in Flushing and Manhattan. Many of the violations occurred at a downtown Flushing condominium on 41st Road.

Resorts World contractors fined by OSHA

From the Daily News:

Construction workers toiled virtually around the clock to get Queens’ glitzy gaming hub operational, but federal officials are now charging that contractors cut corners when it came to safety.

Five companies skirted regulations during construction of the Aqueduct racino this summer and exposed employees to hazardous conditions, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration said Monday.

The agency slapped fines totaling more than $127,000 on five contractors for serious violations, including contact with high levels of lead.

Huang gets death discount from OSHA

From the Queens Gazette:

Troubled developer Thomas Huang last month agreed to fork over $26,400 to resolve a series of safety violations uncovered during an investigation into a deadly construction accident that left a 26-year-old worker dead and three others seriously injured in Elmhurst on January 10.

The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) fined Huang’s H-Rock Corporation $38,000 for serious violations of workplace safety standards, at a job site at 85-02 Queens Blvd. that caused the death of Hedilberto Sanchez.

Construction crews at the site were working on a one-story cinderblock wall measuring 65-feet long and 20-feet high when workers began pouring concrete, authorities said. The wall collapsed, releasing scaffolding and sending the workers tumbling into the rubble.

Four men were taken to Elmhurst Hospital Center where Sanchez was pronounced dead on arrival. Three other workers – including Sanchez’ brother, were treated for fractures, trauma and other serious injuries.

The fine was reduced to $26,400 after Huang agreed to a settlement on June 30, OSHA spokesperson John Chavez said.

Cost of a human life: $116,312

From the Queens Gazette:

Federal regulators recently cited three Queens contractors for multiple safety violations following an investigation into a construction accident that left a 26-year-old worker dead and three others seriously injured in Elmhurst on January 10.

The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited Sing Da Corporation, H-Rock Corporation and Vera Construction, Inc., for serious violations of workplace safety standards, following an investigation into the January 10 accident at a job site at 85-02 Queens Blvd.

OSHA slapped the companies with a total of $116,312 and gave them 15 business days to meet with an OSHA director to contest the findings, authorities said.

When is it OSHA and when is it DOB?

You know things are bad out there when Staten Island writes to you...

"How much did Commissioner LiMandri spend on fliers, written in a multitude of languages, advising workers to wear safety harnesses? Check out how important this is to the Dept of Buildings - they don't even bother to send an inspector out! Turns out that unless someone falls ON THE SIDEWALK (which means it's not a building site-related incident?) the DoB can take as long as ten days to follow up on a complaint." - Jacob Riis

NYC Department of Buildings

Overview for Complaint #:5089668 = RESOLVED

Complaint at:	80 GRANITE AVENUE		BIN: 5026644		Borough: STATEN ISLAND		ZIP: 10303
Re:	UNSAFE SITE, WORKERS NOT USING PROPER HARNESS, AND ALSOPASSING BEAMS, BY HAND IN SECOND STORY OF BUILDING (COMMERICAL BLDG)NEED AN INSPECTOR ASAP

Category Code:	91 SITE CONDITIONS ENDANGERING WORKERS
DOB District:	N/A
Special District:
Assigned To:	STATEN ISLAND BOROUGH OFFICE	Priority: A

Received:	02/17/2011 09:02		Block: 1157	Lot: 31		Community Board: 501
Owner:	MAYZEL, KLEMENT

Last Inspection:02/17/2011 - - BY BADGE # 0801 Disposition:02/17/2011 - I1 - COMPLAINT UNSUBSTANTIATED BASED ON DEPARTMENT RECORDS
Comments:OSHA JURISDICTION

Crane operator loses license

From the Daily News:

The city Buildings Department on Sunday yanked the license of the operator of a 25-story monster crane that collapsed in Manhattan's Financial District.

Crane operator Christopher Cosban "failed to leave the crane in the safest position possible at the end of the work day," contributing to its Saturday night collapse, Buildings Department spokesman Tony Sclafani said.

Cosban failed to lower the hydraulically operated boom of the mobile crane as low as he should have, creating a serious hazard, sources familiar with the probe said.

Investigators hauled the 360,000-pound crane onto a truck and removed it for investigation.

During the day Saturday, the 250-foot crane was hoisting air conditioning equipment to the top of the building, but it was not in operation when it crashed.

Cosban's negligence contributed to the mishap but may not have been the only cause, Sclafani said. Buildings Department investigators also were probing possible mechanical failure.

The crash also is under investigation by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

Former DOB inspector busted for fake training certificates

From the Daily News:

A former city buildings inspector was busted Friday for selling fake safety training certificates required to work on high-rises.

The arrest of Michael Dinardo, 52, comes after a series of Daily News probes uncovered a thriving black market in the coveted certificates, which are issued through the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

Dinardo, a Buildings Department inspector from 2004 to 2007, was charged in Manhattan Federal Court with selling 47 training cards to city Investigations Department undercover agents who did not complete any training.

The city requires that all hardhats working on buildings of 15 stories or more complete a 10-hour OSHA-approved training course. Workers in certain high-risk operations, including tower crane operators, are required to complete 30 hours of safety training.

Dinardo, an OSHA-authorized instructor for the 10- and 30-hour courses, trafficked in those cards as well as certificates for Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response (HAZWOPER), in which he had no training.

In January, Dinardo provided undercover investigators with a price list: $100 for a 10-hour card; $275 for a 30-hour card and $325 for a HAZWOPER certificate, prosecutors said.

Dinardo faces five years in prison and a $250,000 fine if convicted of conspiracy to defraud OSHA.

Feds issue blame for sewer deaths

From the Times Ledger:

In June, Harel Dahan was working on cleaning out a dry well inside the Royal Waste Services recycling center at 172-08 Douglas Ave. along with his S. Dahan Piping and Heating Co. co-workers when he fell into the 18-foot hole.

Harel Dahan’s father, Shlomo, who owned the piping company at 126-14 Van Wyck Expwy., went down, along with Royal worker Rene Francisco Rivas, to try and save the 23-year-old, but all three were killed instantly by the high levels of hydrogen sulfide inside the sewer.

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration completed its investigation into the incident this week and said S. Dahan Piping and Royal should have taken measures to prevent the deaths.

The agency’s investigation found that S. Dahan should have monitored the air quality in the dry well before anyone entered to clean it out. If it found a danger, OSHA said protective measures such as using breathing apparatuses should have been followed to ensure the safety of the workers.

OSHA also said Regal failed to post signs warning its employees of the potential dangers of working in the confined space.

Fake safety cards still around

From the Daily News:

Days after the city imposed tough new standards on construction safety training, a bogus safety certificate surfaced at a troubled Manhattan high-rise.

The discovery last month of the illicit card, purportedly issued by the U.S. Labor Department, raises questions about enforcement of the new law and renews concerns about widespread bogus training.

"I never received any training," Brazilian immigrant carpenter Joao Dias, 37, told the Daily News after union investigators seized the card from him at a violation-plagued hotel rising at 30 W. 31st St.

"I never met the guy who signed it."

Trainer faked safety certificates

From the Daily News:

A federally approved construction safety trainer sold dozens of fake cards certifying hardhats participated in a rigorous 30-hour safety class they never attended, the Daily News has learned.

Until his arrest last fall, Larry Fontanez was a certified trainer, approved by the U.S. Occupational Safety & Health Administration to teach 10- and 30-hour construction safety classes.

The classes have become extremely popular since New York City passed a law last year requiring all hardhats working buildings more than 15 stories to take at least the 10-hour course by July.

Those who've already taken it must complete a refresher by 2014.

With the flood of students has come a flood of fraud, construction insiders say.