09-127-NEW/BOS 2009-040
Thurs., Feb. 19, 2009
Contact: Ted Fitzgerald
Phone: 617-565-2074

NEW YORK -- New York-based concrete construction contractor 160 Broadway Corp., doing business as Broadway Concrete, has agreed to pay a $750,000 fine as part of a settlement agreement with the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) addressing hazards cited last summer. The company also will take comprehensive steps to upgrade employee safety and health at its worksites.

In June 2008, OSHA cited Broadway Concrete and proposed $877,000 in penalties against the company for fall hazards at the 77 Hudson condominium construction project in Jersey City, N.J. The company initially contested the citations and penalties but withdrew its notice of contest as part of a settlement agreement, signed Jan. 26, 2009, which reclassified 13 of the 15 willful citations as repeat violations.

Under the agreement, Broadway Concrete and its sister company, Regal Construction, have agreed to abate all the cited hazards and take the following additional steps beyond what is required under OSHA standards:

• Select and employ a full-time chief of construction operations and a corporate safety director to oversee construction operations and have authority over senior job superintendents in safety and health related issues.
• Employ a full-time site safety director on each large project and have a safety director inspect smaller projects at least once a week; the safety directors will have authority to stop work and direct changes to ensure site safety.
• Reduce the salary of senior job superintendents who fail to comply with applicable OSHA and job safety practices.
• Complete a comprehensive review of current construction means, methods and safety procedures, including a crew-based, task specific hazard assessment for every phase of current construction operations.
• Develop a new corporate safety and health plan.
• Finalize a site specific safety and health plan for each new project before work begins, ensure the job superintendent reads it and provides copies to onsite employees.
• Provide safety and health management training to superintendents and supervisory personnel working on each site, and train company and subcontractor employees on each site's safety and health plan.
• Provide OSHA officials with information on major projects and access to all jobsites without need of a warrant for the next four years.

"This settlement commits and challenges these employers to take broad, effective and long-lasting steps to make employee safety and health a vital and ongoing business priority," said Robert Kulick, OSHA's regional administrator in New York. "Active and engaged safety and health management is a critical tool for reducing worksite hazards and their associated human and financial costs."

Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, employers are responsible for providing a safe and healthy workplace for their employees. OSHA's role is to promote the safety and health of America's working men and women by setting and enforcing standards; providing training, outreach and education; establishing partnerships; and encouraging continual process improvement in workplace safety and health. For more information, visit www.osha.gov.

U.S. Department of Labor releases are accessible on the Internet at www.dol.gov. The information in this news release will be made available in alternate format (large print, Braille, audiotape or disc) from the COAST office upon request. Please specify which news release when placing your request at 202-693-7828 or TTY 202-693-7755. The Labor Department is committed to providing America's employers and employees with easy access to understandable information on how to comply with its laws and regulations. For more information, please visit www.dol.gov/compliance.