Opinion ID: 626246
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Safety Violations at the Work Site

Text: We now dig into the evidence presented before the ALJ. Gioioso is a public works contractor that constructs and installs water supply and sewer pipes. As part of its work, Gioioso performs excavations to remove and replace old utility pipes. On July 10, 2009, Gioioso's employees were performing trenching work to install water service lines at a site in Boston, Massachusetts. An OSHA compliance officer, Sean Henrikson (Henrikson), was assigned to inspect the Gioioso work site. That morning, while walking to work, Henrikson observed employees in a trench at the site. Henrikson reported this to his supervisor, who ordered him to inspect the site. When Henrikson returned around noon to perform the inspection, he saw a Gioioso employee climbing out of an unprotected trench that appeared to be roughly six feet deep. Later that day, around 1:00 P.M., from roughly fifty yards away, Henrikson observed a Gioioso employee, later identified as Robert Bruni (Bruni), climb out of the east end of a second trench located near the first trench. Henrikson walked to the second trench and observed equipment operator Gregory Perreira (Perreira) standing next to the trench and foreman José Ourique (Ourique) digging with a shovel in the east end of the trench. Henrikson observed that the trench was unprotected and that it rose to the top of Ourique's head. Henrikson identified himself and instructed Ourique to exit the trench. Ourique did so by climbing over what Henrikson identified as a box containing electrical wiring. [1] The site superintendent, Joseph Zenga (Zenga), arrived at the scene roughly five minutes later. According to Henrikson, Zenga told him that he had not inspected the trench or measured it before any employees entered it. Henrikson spoke with Ourique, who, according to Henrikson, said that he was not the competent person at the site and that he had not measured the trench. Henrikson also spoke with Perreira, who said that Zenga came by the trench six to eight times per day, roughly once every twenty to thirty minutes. Furthermore, Perreira told Henrikson that Zenga had been by the trench earlier in the day while Ourique was in it, but that Zenga did not say anything to Ourique or to anyone else regarding trench protection. Henrikson then measured the trench to be roughly 20 feet long and 68 inches deep at the east end, the deepest end. The trench was 51 inches wide. There was a trench box at the site, but it would not have fit into the trench due to the presence of utility lines. Henrikson also observed that there were no shoring materials at the site.