Contractor Fined $121K After Demolition Worker Dies

District Attorney has yet to announce if criminal charges will be filed

June 2, 2015

Silive.com

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has cited Formica Construction with three willful, three serious and one other-than-serious violation after a six-month-long investigation found the constructor willfully disregarded numerous safety protocols. In November 2014, demolition worker Delfino Velazquez died after a mezzanine of the old Dana Ford Lincoln car dealership collapsed on him and three other workers who were dismantling the building.

Formica Construction is facing $121,000 in proposed fines for the violations. Some violations include lack of a valid permit to perform demolition, failure to conduct a pre-demolition engineering survey and failure to adhere to safety practices during demolition.

How a Proper Construction Demolition Engineering Survey Can Prevent OSHA Citations

Velazquez is the second Formica Construction employee to die in the last 11 years. Formica's owner admitted to knowing of the unsafe trench that killed the first worker and was sentenced to 16 weekends in jail. The district attorney's office has yet to announce whether criminal charges will be filed in the Velazquez case.

(more on Formica Construction's safety violations at the Ford dealership jobsite...)

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