Parking garage collapse kills worker on his first day, feds say. Now company owes $1.2M
A demolition company faces nearly $1.2 million in fines after a newly hired employee was killed on his first day of work when a parking garage’s floors collapsed in Boston, federal labor officials say.
The worker, Peter Monsini, 51, was a husband, father and uncle who was “truly happiest running heavy equipment, having grown up in a family devoted to the demolition trade for the past 3+ generations,” his obituary states.
The morning of the March 26 Government Center parking garage collapse, JDC Demolition Company Inc. is accused of ignoring another employee’s concerns over the floor’s safety during a demolition project, according to the Department of Labor.
As a result, the Brockton-based company faces $1,191,292 in penalties proposed by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration following an inspection, which also found the contractor didn’t train its workers properly, a Sept. 27 agency news release says. The proposed penalties are for eight safety violations.
McClatchy News contacted the company for comment on Sept. 28 and was awaiting a response.
The collapse
On March 26, Monsini was ordered to operate an 11,000-pound excavator on the parking garage’s eighth floor after safety concerns were raised, according to the Labor Department. At the time, Monsini was never briefed on the safety system or trained to follow a demolition plan, the agency says.
Ultimately, the partially demolished floors collapsed from underneath Monsini, who fell 80 feet along with the heavy excavator, according to the release.
Authorities pronounced Monsini dead at the scene after his body was discovered underneath rubble, NBC Boston reported. Additionally, the collapse sent another person to the hospital.
“JDC Demolition Company Inc. knew the heavy equipment on the partially demolished floors were over the weight limits and still allowed a worker, unaware of the hazards, to do demolition work,” OSHA’s administrator in Boston, Galen Blanton, said in a statement. “This willful and egregious disregard for safety cost a worker’s life and exposed other employees to potentially fatal hazards.”
The company has 15 days after receiving the proposed penalties to pay them, request an informal meeting with OSHA’s area director or contest OSHA’s findings, the Labor Department says.
“JDC Demolition takes the safety and security of their employees extremely seriously and remains deeply saddened by the tragic loss of a team member,” company spokesperson Lizzy Guyton told WCVB in a statement. “They have fully cooperated with OSHA’s investigation and are carefully reviewing the citations, and will contest them as appropriate.”
The demolition project’s general contractor John Moriarty and Associates Inc. also faces $58,008 in fines proposed by OSHA for four “serious” safety violations in connection with the tragedy, according to the news release.
McClatchy News contacted this contractor for comment on Sept. 28 and was awaiting a response.
John Moriarty and Associates Inc. told The Associated Press that the company “will be appealing” OSHA’s citations.
“While the events of March 26th are tragic, our jobsite has consistently exceeded the requirements of both city ordinances and OSHA guidelines,” the company told the outlet.
Monsini was a member of the labor union Local 4 Operating Engineers Union for 20 years and had worked on several projects in the New England region prior to his death, according to his obituary.
The Local 4 Operating Engineers Union issued a statement following the partial garage collapse that read, in part: “we were devastated to learn that we lost a Brother Member from Local 4 to a tragic and horrible construction accident in Boston. … He was a great friend to many of us and he will be sadly missed.”
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