Contractor pleads guilty to violating rules, causing 2017 death of construction worker
A New Jersey construction company and its principal have pleaded guilty in federal court to willfully violating Occupational Safety and Health Administration rules, causing the death of a construction worker at a Poughkeepsie site in 2017.
Damian Williams, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, said Finbar O'Neill, 57, of Paramus, N.J., and his company, OneKey LLC, pleaded guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul E. Davison.
Sentencing is scheduled for May 12.
According to court filings, Maximiliano Saban was killed in the incident. Saban was an employee of New Generations Masonry, a Connecticut-based subcontractor.
According to Williams, O'Neill and OneKey implemented a soil compaction plan at a construction site at 1 Dutchess Avenue in Poughkeepsie in 2017. The plan involved piling large quantities of dirt, called surcharges, on top of the sites of three future buildings. An engineering firm designed a plan for the use of the surcharges.
But Williams said O'Neill and OneKey did not follow the plan. Instead, they built a wall to hold back one of the surcharges so workers could get started on the buildings next to it. They did not consult with any qualified person to see if the wall could withstand the weight to be placed on it by the surcharges.
Williams said while people were working next to the wall, OneKey kept using construction machinery to add dirt to the surcharges pressing up against the wall. The people working near the wall were not warned about the danger created. O'Neill and OneKey heard from people working at the site that the wall was not safe, but they did not fix it, Williams said
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On Aug. 3, 2017, workers complained that construction machines were driving on top of the surcharge, adding dirt to it. Later that day, the wall collapsed. As it fell, one worker ran away from the wall, but he could not get away in time and was killed. Another worker was injured.
The One Dutchess development is luxury waterfront apartment development just north of the Walkway Over the Hudson in Poughkeepsie, consisting of multiple buildings and amenities.
O'Neill and OneKey each pleaded guilty to one count of willful violation of OSHA regulations resulting in death.
O'Neill faces a maximum sentence of six months in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000. OneKey faces a maximum fine of $500,000.
Scott Resnik, an attorney representing O'Neill and OneKey, offered the following statement on their behalf:
"Yesterday, Mr. O'Neill and OneKey LLC resolved their cases with pleas to misdemeanors. These actions are a further demonstration of the acceptance of responsibility that both Mr. O'Neill and OneKey have consistently taken for the construction accident that occurred over five years ago. By taking this final step, both Mr. O'Neill and OneKey hope that this misdemeanor resolution can help bring closure to this incident, for not only themselves, but also for the family of the construction worker who passed away as a result of the accident in 2017."
Mike Randall covers breaking news for the Times Herald-Record, the Poughkeepsie Journal and the Journal News-lohud. Reach him at mrandall@th-record.com or on Twitter @mikerandall845.
This article originally appeared on Poughkeepsie Journal: Contractor admits violating OSHA rules in construction worker's death
