A contractor cited in the deaths of two employees in a construction incident last February faces a new set of violations and penalties of $624,777 for workers being in an unprotected excavation less than six months later, according to the U.S. Occupational Safety & Health Administration.
Atlantic Coast Utilities LLC/Advanced Utilities Inc. is facing penalties of $1.35 million following two workers dying February 24, 2021, in Boston after being hit by a dump truck and falling into a 9-foot-deep excavation. Among the violations from that incident was not providing adequate cave-in protection.
OSHA says it responded to a complaint August 13 about the same contractor at a residential construction site in East Boston where workers were in an trench. In this case, Laurence Moloney, dba Atlantic Coast Utilities LLC/Advanced Utilities Inc., and Nuala Nichoncubhair, dba Sterling Excavation, and their successors face penalties of $624,777 for the following alleged violations:
Moloney and associated companies have a history of OSHA violations, including a double fatality.
On February 24, 2021, Atlantic Coast Utilities/Advanced Utilities of Wayland, Massachusetts, was performing an emergency sewer repair in downtown Boston. An Atlantic Coast Utilities dump truck was being backed up and struck Jordy Alexander Castaneda Romero, 27, and Juan Carlos Figueroa Gutierrez, 33. That caused them to fall into the excavation.
Emergency responders found them at the bottom of the hole, and they were pronounced dead on the scene.
