Walmart subcontractor fined after worker’s death
The employer of 47 year old Romulo Santos, who was electrocuted and killed this past September, violated basic safety regulations, according to a federal report made public last week. Santos, a native of Brazil, was working with a demolition crew at a Walmart site in Walpole at 1 in the morning, when the lights went out and he came in contact with live wires. Click here to download the full press release.
Contact: Marcy Goldstein-Gelb, MassCOSH Executive Director:(617) 825-7233 x15; cell (617)-642-1878 Katie Mae Simpson, Communications Coordinator(617) 825-7233 x14
Walmart subcontractor fined following worker’s death
March 9, 2009 - The employer of 47 year old Romulo Santos, who was electrocuted and killed this past September, violated basic safety regulations, according to a federal report made public today. Santos, a native of Brazil, was working with a demolition crew at a Walmart site in Walpole at 1 in the morning, when the lights went out and he came in contact with live wires. The US Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited and fined Santos’ employer, Italo Masonry, for seven serious violations, and the electrical company, M and T Electric, for six serious violations of the OSH Act, with combined fines totaling just over $15,000. While Walmart’s general contractor, Kekoka Construction, was not cited by OSHA, they were responsible for the selection of the subcontractors and had a foreman on site at the time of the fatality.
“Any company that employs workers in demolition work in the middle of the night without a comprehensive safety plan is asking for an accident,” said Marcy Goldstein-Gelb, executive director of the Massachusetts Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health “Romulo Santos most certainly would be alive today had each of the three contractors complied with OSHA requirements.”
Among the violations cited by OSHA, Italo failed to set up an accident prevention program that included regular inspections by a competent person and did not properly instruct employees in “the recognition and avoidance of unsafe conditions”. T and M Electric was cited for allowing workers to work near electric power circuits without ensuring that they were properly deenergized and grounded or guarded through insulation. They also were cited for failing to post warning signs to prevent workers from being exposed to live power circuits.
This past decade has seen a dramatic increase in Brazilian worker fatalities in the Commonwealth compared to the previous one: Fifteen Brazilian born workers were killed on the job in Massachusetts – eight from construction accidents – between 1999 and 2007. That’s a big jump from the previous eight years, 1991-1998, when no deaths were recorded. The data comes from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health’s Occupational Health Surveillance Program (OHSP).
“Unfortunately one more Brazilian construction worker died due to a highly preventable cause: electrocution. Brazilian construction workers would not die at work if their employers complied with mandatory construction safety and health standards,” said Carlos Eduardo Siqueira, President of the Board of the Brazilian Immigrant Center.
This electrical fatality is also not the first for the multi-billion dollar retailer. Two years ago, Scott Sheldon was working at a Wal-mart construction site in Indiana when, at age 35, he was electrocuted.
"This decision should set an example for the community. The message here is: it is not ok to hire immigrant or any other workers and neglect them,” said Heloisa Maria Galvao, executive director of the Brazilian Women's Group. “We believe that the work that OSHA and MassCOSH do is extremely important in making sure the death of one more worker does not go unnoticed."
MassCOSH and its national association, National COSH, has called upon the Obama Administration to adopt a platform of recommendations for workplace health and safety that includes increasing enforcement to deter employers from failing to comply with OSHA requirements.
The platform includes:
§ Increase Worker Rights. All workers should be covered by comprehensive, worksite-specific injury and illness prevention programs
§ Extend OSHA Coverage to all Employees and Address Unregulated Hazards
§ Strengthen OSHA's Penalty Structure to Ensure Effective Deterrence
The full platform, which has been endorsed by a growing national coalition of over 100 organizations, is available at
http://masscosh.org/files/Protecting_Workers_on_the_Job_Jan_2009_0.pdf.
