Workers' Compensation: Paterson Contractors Settle with OSHA for $215,000 for Safety Violations

Two related North Jersey construction contractor companies – Primetime Construction LLC and its subsidiary Primetime Contractors LLC of Paterson – have agreed to pay $215,000 in penalties and undertake several significant safety measures to resolve numerous safety violations found at five Paterson construction worksites in 2021, as part of a settlement with the U.S. Department of Labor.

The department's Occupational Safety and Health Administration initially cited Primetime Contractors LLC for four willful violations that occurred in September 2021 after agency inspectors found the employer exposing workers to fall hazards by repeatedly failing to ensure construction site stairways at company worksites had handrails and stair rails, even after being counseled by OSHA about the relevant safety requirements. Primetime Contractors contested the citations and penalties to the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission. The department amended the citations to add Primetime Construction to the case during litigation

"This agreement commits Primetime Construction LLC and Primetime Contractors LLC to correct their previously cited hazards and invest in significant and measurable practices and improvements designed to prevent falls, the deadliest hazard in construction work, and result in safer workplaces for their employees," said OSHA Area Director Lisa Levy in Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey.

The settlement requires the employers to undertake the following enhanced abatement measures:

Conduct a pre-job hazard assessment for each job.
Ensure field employees receive at least 10-hour OSHA training.
Ensure supervisors receive at least 30-hour OSHA training.
Require subcontractors to document, with photographs, that compliant handrails and stair rails are in place during the course of work.
Retain a safety consultant to conduct periodic worksite audits.
Notify OSHA of the companies' upcoming projects.

Read the stipulated settlement agreement.

"This settlement demonstrates the U.S. Department of Labor's commitment to pursue litigation tools to enforce workplace safety laws and better protect workers against potentially disabling or deadly workplace hazards," said Regional Solicitor of Labor Jeffrey S. Rogoff in New York.

Recommended Citation: Gelman, Jon L., Paterson Contractors Settles with OSHA for $215,000 for Safety Violations, and Functional Impact for Patients, www.gelmans.com (06/08/2024)

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*Jon L. Gelman of Wayne, NJ, is the author of NJ Workers’ Compensation Law (West-Thomson-Reuters) and co-author of the national treatise Modern Workers’ Compensation Law (West-Thomson-Reuters). For over five decades, the Law Offices of Jon Gelman 1.973.696.7900
jon@gelmans.com has represented injured workers and their families who have suffered occupational illnesses and diseases.