Opinion ID: 197419
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: the origins of the dispute

Text: 6 Gioioso is in the construction industry, specializing in utilities. Some time ago, it contracted with the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA) to lay water lines in Winthrop, Massachusetts. During a lengthy period beginning in 1993, it laid several thousand feet of pipe under or near the access road to MWRA's Deer Island work site. 7 In the course of its endeavors, Gioioso dug an 18-foot-long trench at the intersection of Shirley and Taft Avenues. On October 6, 1994, Gioioso's foreman, Salvatore Santone, and a laborer, Fernando Camara, were standing in this trench. At that moment, several OSHA compliance officers happened to pass by the work site. 1 The meandering traffic afforded the compliance officers a clear view of the trench and one of their number, Edward Wells, did not like what he saw: the trench's walls were unsloped and unsupported, the two workmen standing in the trench were visible only from the shoulders up, and a ten-foot section of cast metal pipe was suspended aloft from the bucket of a piece of heavy construction equipment located at one end of the trench. Wells sounded the alarm (figuratively speaking) and the driver stopped the car. 8 One of Wells' colleagues, Patrick Griffin, exited the vehicle and hurried toward the trench. Griffin noticed that the dangling pipe was connected to the bucket of a large excavating machine by only a single attachment point and watched as it rotated into a position parallel to the trench and directly over the workmen's heads. When Griffin reached the trench, he discovered that it measured no less than six feet deep and four feet wide and had been dug in gravelly soil. No trench box was in place to guard against a cave-in (although Santone claimed that he and Camara had been measuring the trench to ascertain if it could accommodate one). Moreover, because the trench lay adjacent to the only road providing access to Deer Island, vibrations from traffic increased the risk of a cave-in. A gas pipe, six inches in diameter, traversed the width of the trench. Wells corroborated many of Griffin's observations. 9 In due course, OSHA issued citations alleging three serious violations (one of which the Secretary later withdrew) and a repeat violation. 2 The two serious violations (which we shall label A and B) were as follows: 10 A. Permitting employees to work beneath the suspended pipe in violation of 29 C.F.R. § 1926.651(e) (1996) (which instructs that [n]o employee shall be permitted underneath loads handled by lifting or digging equipment). 11 B. Permitting workers to use a ladder that did not extend at least three feet above the top of the trench in violation of 29 C.F.R. § 1926.1053(b)(1) (1996) (which directs that [w]hen portable ladders are used for access to an upper landing surface, the ladder side rails shall extend at least 3 feet (.9m) above the upper landing). 12 The repeat violation (which we shall label C) was as follows: 13 C. Failing to provide an adequate protective system for workers in an unshored trench, in violation of 29 C.F.R. § 1926.652(a)(1) (1996) (which provides that, except when excavations are made entirely in stable rock or are less than five feet in depth, [e]ach employee in an excavation shall be protected from cave-ins by an adequate protective system). 14 The petitioner filed a timely notice of contest. At the outset of the hearing, it moved for disqualification on the ground that the ALJ, several years earlier (while employed as an attorney in the Department of Labor), had prosecuted one or more similar cases involving Gioioso. The ALJ refused to recuse himself. After considering the evidence, he found that the violations had in fact occurred, accepted OSHA's characterizations of them, and imposed penalties of $1,600 for each of the two serious violations and $8,000 for the repeat violation. 15 Gioioso petitioned the Commission for discretionary review of the ALJ's decision. Its PDR called attention to only three issues (described infra Part IV). The PDR generated no interest and the ALJ's decision ripened into the Commission's final order. 3 Gioioso then sought a judicial anodyne.