June 17, 2015
SOMERVILLE
As federal inspectors investigate an elevator fall at an Assembly Square construction project that killed one worker and injured another last week, construction officials say they met all safety standards at the site.
Ronald “Moose” Morse, an ironworker from Hookset, NH, died on June 11 after the external elevator he and another co-worker were on pulled away from the structure of the new Partners Healthcare building and fell 30 or 40 feet to the ground below. Morse, who fellow workers remember as a family man (see sidebar, page A7), did not have a pulse when emergency responders arrived, according to Somerville Fire Chief Patrick Sullivan.
Firefighters performed CPR on Morse and both he and the other worker were taken to Mass General Hospital, where Morse was pronounced dead. The other man was not identified but was in serious condition.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration began investigating the fatality immediately following the elevator fall, according Ted Fitzgerald, a spokesman for the federal agency. He declined to comment on the specifics of investigation but said regulations prevent it from spanning more than six months.
“The inspection’s purpose is to determine whether or not there were any violations of workplace safety standards in connection with this incident,” Fitzgerald told the Journal. “If the inspection identifies violations, then citations could be issued to and fines proposed for the employer or employers involved.”
According to the OSHA website, employers who willfully violates its safety regulations, which leads to the death of an employee face a $10,000 maximum fine, up to six months of imprisonment, or both.
But companies are often not fined to the fullest extent of the law, according to Marcy Goldstein-Gelb, executive director of advocacy group Massachusetts Coalition for Occupational Safety & Health. She said when OSHA does hand down fines, the median amount across the country for violations that led to a worker death is $5,050.
And Massachusetts has seen several such deaths. Goldfarb said seven Massachusetts construction workers died on the job in 2014 and 15 people across the country died last year while constructing and servicing elevators and hoists.
Suffolk Construction has one OSHA violation in the past five years, which came during the construction of a 380 residential unit building at 275 Albany St. in Boston in September 2014. OSHA fined Suffolk $1,275 for a violation related to having safe exits at the building, according to the agency’s website.
Unclear causes
The men were installing a hoist for the external elevator, according to Suffolk Construction spokesperson Kim Steimle Vaughan. Suffolk is overseeing the work at the building, but Morse worked for Raynham-based Shiloh Steel Construction and the other man is a contractor for Boston-based Liberty Construction.
Partners Healthcare is constructing an 850,000-square-foot office building next to the new Orange Line station at the Assembly Row shopping center. The project also includes 100,000 square feet of retail space and will be completed by early 2018.
Vaughan gave little information about the elevator’s fall, saying Suffolk was waiting for results of the investigation. She did not know whether the men were inside or on the elevator, where they were installing a hoist, and did not know why the elevator pulled away from the structure.
But Vaughan said all safety protocols were being followed at the site. She told the Journal the elevator being constructed was going to temporarily transport workers and materials to the upper levels of the building until a permanent elevator was installed and licensed.
She said the temporary elevator would have been run by a licensed elevator operator and used by all trades working at the site who needed to access upper floor and that Suffolk put safeguards in place to protect workers during the installation of the elevator.
“There is pre-task planning that is done with the workers and safety personnel,” she said. “The work area is cordoned off from non-essential workers; and the work is installed by workers experienced in this installation.”
OSHA has a host of regulations that workers are required to follow when installing hoists and elevators at construction sites. Regulations relate to everything from rope and wire requirements, workers following manufacturer recommendations, use restrictions, having protective bars on the elevator, and elevator tower specifications.