OSHA Fines 6 NY-NJ Contractors $648K Over Excavation Hazards
Federal inspectors cited six construction firms for willful and serious safety violations at a large mixed-use development in Monroe, New York.
Six construction employers in New York and New Jersey face a combined $648,094 in proposed federal penalties after the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration found widespread excavation safety failures at a large commercial development site in Monroe, New York.
OSHA investigators responded to an allegation of struck-by and collapse hazards at the Monroe Commons project, also known as the Magna Square development — a planned four-story, roughly 408,000-square-foot mixed-use structure featuring retail space, offices, and a 39-room hotel on an 18-acre parcel. At the center of the investigation was a steep, unstable embankment reaching nearly 75 feet high that had not been adequately sloped or shored to protect workers below.
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The agency issued 23 serious citations and five willful citations to general contractor Advanced Plan and Build LLC and five subcontractors. Among the most severe findings: multiple firms willfully exposed workers to cave-in and struck-by hazards from an unprotected excavation, and both Advanced Plan and Build and The Paving Masters LLC failed to have the excavation — ranging from 21 to 75 feet deep — designed by a registered professional engineer as required. Additional violations involved the absence of daily competent-person inspections, inadequate fall protection, and unaddressed chemical hazards.
The largest individual penalty — $198,615 — was proposed against Parkstone Inc. and its affiliate Obstacle Systems Inc., operating as Drip Drop Waterproofing Inc. The Paving Masters LLC faces $188,684 in penalties, while Advanced Plan and Build faces $175,444. The remaining three subcontractors — Century Max Industries Corp., DelValle Contractor, and Prime Structure Inc. — received smaller proposed fines for serious violations. Each cited employer has 15 business days from receipt of citations to comply, seek an informal OSHA conference, or contest the findings before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.
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