OSHA finds that foundation subcontractor N.Y.D. & E. Group was responsible for death of Paul Kennedy on Downtown Brooklyn construction site
Paul Kennedy was killed in October when a shackle came loose and struck him in the head at GFI’s 61 Bond St. development
By Rich Bockmann | April 28, 2017 04:30PM
Allen Gross and Construction work at 61 Bond Street in Downtown Brooklyn (credit: Tectonic via NY YIMBY)
Safety officials found a subcontractor working on GFI Capital Resource Group’s hotel development site in Downtown Brooklyn responsible for an accident that resulted in a construction worker’s death late last year.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration earlier this month ruled that N.Y.D. & E. Group, an Ozone Park-based foundation contractor working at the site, failed to maintain conditions that were “free from recognized hazards that were causing or likely to cause death or serious physical harm to employees.”
In October, 43-year-old Paul Kennedy of the Bronx was killed when a shackle from a crane came loose and struck him in the head while he was drilling piles at 61 Bond Street, where GFI, affiliate GB Lodging and partner Spruce Capital are building a 13-story, 157,000-square-foot hotel.
OSHA levied a $12,675 penalty against N.Y.D. & E., which was hired by general contractor Broadway Construction Group, an affiliate of GFI.
Representatives for GFI, Broadway Construction and N.Y.D. & E. could not be immediately reached for comment.
The number of construction-related accidents has climbed precipitously along with the current construction boom. There were 500 such accidents in fiscal year 2016, an increase of 59 percent over the previous year, according to a report Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration released last year.
Earlier this month, a construction worker died after plunging 18 feet from a job site at 1604 Broadway in Times Square.
Today is Workers’ Memorial Day, an international day of remembrance for workers injured or killed on the job.
“On some construction sites, much of the personal protective equipment that we are supposed to have in order to work safe, that our employers are supposed to provide, are often scarce, if not non-existent. Even when you get them, they are inadequate for the job,” Tommy Roumbakos, a 27-year-old construction worker, said at an event in Queens. “That’s why accidents happen. That’s why people leave home for work and, sometimes, don’t make it back home.”