Wednesday, August 5, 2015

Sky Materials Corp., Harco Construction, LLC and others indicted for manslaughter: Warnings of unsafe work conditions ignored just prior to construction worker's death who was burried alive


meatpacking district construction worker killed
Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance on Wednesday announced indictments in connection with the death of a construction worker who was killed when he was buried by dirt at a site in the Meatpacking District earlier this year.

The incident happened just after noon at the site on Ninth Avenue between West 12th and West 13th streets.

Authorities say 22-year-old Carlos Moncayo was in a dirt hole that collapsed and caved in on Ninth Avenue between West 12th and West 13th streets just after noon on April 6.

Now, 50-year-old William Cueva, 54-year-old Alfonso Prestia and their respective companies -- Sky Materials Corp. and Harco Construction, LLC -- are facing a slew of charges including manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and reckless endangerment.

Vance says the defendants failed to heed and address repeated warnings about unsafe work conditions at an active construction site.

"Carlos Moncayo's death at a construction site was tragic, but it was also foreseeable and avoidable," Vance said. "As detailed in court documents, repeated warnings about safety hazards at 9-19 Ninth Avenue were issued in the months, weeks, and even minutes before a trench collapsed, killing Mr. Moncayo. Excavation work and trenching are some of the most dangerous jobs on a construction project, and it is during these critical moments that adherence to safety protocols and procedures is essential."

According to the indictments and documents filed in court, between December 2014 and March 2015, Sky and Harco managed and oversaw the construction work, with Cueva and Prestia responsible for ensuring workers' safety and observing basic safety precautions at the development site.

As required by the New York City Building Code and Occupational Safety and Health Administration regulations, all excavations deeper than five feet must be fortified in order to protect workers from cave-ins before permanent support systems can be implemented. Common methods of fortification include shoring, which prevents soil movement by bracing trench walls with hard barriers, and sloping, which lessens the gradient of trench walls, decreasing pressure and the chance of collapse.

The following is the timeline of events, according to the indictments and court documents:

In February 2015, Domani Inspection Services was hired to conduct inspections at the site. From the outset of the assignment, prosecutors say a Domani inspector noticed that conditions at the excavation site were severely lacking with respect to workers' safety. Moreover, the trenches were not secured by either sloping or shoring methods. Despite meetings with the defendants and repeated email warnings about these deficiencies, safety practices did not improve and persisted for a period of several months.

On April 6, 2015, at approximately 9:45 a.m., a different Domani inspector noticed that a seven-foot-deep trench was unprotected by any system of fortification. The inspector rushed to alert Prestia, who was inside a trailer at street level with no sightline to the excavation pit. The inspector informed Prestia that no workers should be allowed to enter the trench while the sides were unfortified, and delivered the same directions to Cueva, who was on site supervising excavation work.

At approximately 10:35 a.m., the same inspector witnessed four workers inside the unfortified trench, which had reached approximately 13 feet in depth. The inspector informed Cueva that the workers needed to get out of the unprotected trench immediately and suggested an alternative method of completing the task at hand that did not require the workers to be inside the trench.

Cueva, however, refused the inspector's proposal and did not halt ongoing work in the trench. The inspector proceeded to the trailer to alert Prestia and then went back to the pit to reiterate his concerns to Cueva.

At this time, both of the defendants had received two separate and individual warnings about inadequate safety conditions in the trench.

Nearly two hours after receiving the first warning, Prestia left the trailer at approximately 11:30 a.m. and, in English, instructed the workers to get out of the trench. However, the workers -- who spoke primarily Spanish -- continued working in the trench.

A Sky employee approached by the Domani inspector about the unsafe conditions spoke with Cueva, and at approximately 11:50 a.m., Cueva called out to the crew in Spanish.

Moments later, the trench collapsed and fatally crushed Moncayo.

Due to unsafe excavation practices, the Department of Buildings immediately issued a Stop Work Order against Harco and suspended the company's license to perform general contracting services in New York City. A Stop Work Order was also issued at another construction site on which Sky was serving as the excavation subcontractor.

An attorney for Cueva, Cesar de Castro, described what happened as an accident and said his client mourns Moncayo "but does not bear criminal responsibility for his death."

Attorney Ron Fischetti, representing Harco Construction, called Moncayo's death a "tragic accident" that his client isn't responsible for. "There will not be a settlement or a plea in this case," he said. "We wish to go to trial as quickly as possible and we are sure we will be vindicated."

Building owners had no comment. Construction was halted in April but has started again.