Nanuet roofer charged with violating federal safety rules after citations, 2 worker deaths

A 40-year-old Nanuet roofing company owner, who has a long history of safety violations and two employee deaths on his record, was charged Tuesday with violating federal safety regulations.

Jose Lema, the owner of ALJ Home Improvement, Inc., was arrested Tuesday morning at his home on a charge of knowingly and willfully violating Occupational Safety and Health Administration residential construction fall protection standards, the U.S. Attorney's Office said in a complaint.

Federal complaint: Nanuet roofer Jose Lema charged

Lema is accused of failing to protect his employees from fall hazards and causing injuries that resulted in an employee’s death in February 2022 in New Square. Another worker died at a construction site in 2019.

The count carries a maximum sentence of six months in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense. The maximum potential sentence is prescribed by Congress, while a judge would determine the sentence upon conviction.

Two ALJ workers died on construction sites

Lema has been cited by OSHA multiple times for violating safety regulations for his workers, two of whom have died from falls while working for the company. From 2019 into 2023, OSHA performed eight investigations of ALJ worksites that resulted in the issuance of 24 willful citations, 16 serious citations, and over $2.3 million in penalties.

“As alleged, Lema endangered the safety of his workers by disregarding regulations and failing to ensure his employees used fall protection systems," U.S. Attorney Damon Williams said in a news release. "This conduct led to the death of a roof worker on a construction site."

Williams said the criminal "charge should serve as a reminder to small businesses that failure to comply with safety regulations can lead to unnecessary and preventable tragedy.”

The investigation included the U.S. Department of Labor's Office of the Inspector General. Jonathan Mellone, a special agent in charge of the agency's northeast region, added, “An important part of the mission of the Office of Inspector General is to investigate allegations of criminal misconduct related to U.S. Department of Labor programs."

Two Lema employees died on his job sites, the most recent being on Feb. 8, 2022, when a man fell off a roof of a building under construction in the Ramapo village of New Square.

The complaint details federal charges

The federal complaint issued Tuesday charged Lema failed to ensure employees wore fall protection systems.

The worker who fell to his death and three other ALJ employees were installing a roof on a three-story multi-family apartment building in New Square.

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The complaint states ALJ employees ascended a ladder to the roof, but within 20 to 30 minutes of arriving one of the men fell 30 feet off the roof. He died from his injuries. He wore a safety harness, but there was no lanyard, rope, or any other attachment connected to the D-ring on the back of the harness that would have connected him to the roof, the complaint stated. Nor were there anchors on the roof to attach a rope had there been one connected to the harness.

OSHA cited ALJ for failing to ensure its employees were using fall protection systems.

OSHA previously cited Nanuet roofer

OSHA had investigated ALJ six times before the New Square death and once after.

The first time, on Feb. 27, 2019, an ALJ employee slipped off the roof of a newly constructed three-story home in Kiamesha Lake, New York, and fell 35 feet to the ground, the complaint stated. The worker died from his injuries. OSHA determined the man had not been wearing a safety harness and issued citations to ALJ for, among other things, failure to ensure employees wear fall protection systems. ALJ settled and agreed to pay a penalty.

There were five more incidents on five different worksites in New York and New Jersey between 2019 and 2022 in which ALJ employees were exposed to fall hazards, the complaint stated.

OSHA cited ALJ for failing to ensure its employees were using fall protection systems. In each case, ALJ settled and agreed to pay a penalty.

The complaint state that even after the first worker's death, Lema continued to violate OSHA standards and failed to protect his employees.

On Aug. 4, 2022, ALJ employees were working on an 18-foot roof in Ho Ho Kus, New Jersey, without any apparent fall protection. They were wearing harnesses that were not secured to the roof. OSHA issued more citations, including willful failure to ensure employees wear fall protection systems.

Between 2019 and 2023, OSHA performed eight investigations of ALJ worksites that resulted in the issuance of 24 willful citations, 16 serious citations, and over $2.3 million in penalties.

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Violations: OSHA cites ALJ Home Improvements of Nanuet for worker's death and safety violations

Each time OSHA compliance safety and health officials met with Lema and made him aware of his rights and obligations to his employees, the complaint states.

At an OSHA administrative deposition, Lema admitted that prior to the first fatality, he knew that employees on a roof higher than six feet high needed to be protected by some form of fall protection. But despite that knowledge, citations, and fines from six previous investigations, Lema failed to follow OSHA standards and protect Victim-1 and his other employees, the complaint states.

Lema, aka Jose Lema Mizhirumbay, the founder and principal of ALJ Home Improvement, could not be reached for comment. He was being held pending an appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge Victoria Reznik in White Plains federal court.

Steve Lieberman covers government, breaking news, courts, police, and investigations. Reach him at slieberm@lohud.com. Twitter: @lohudlegal.

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This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Roofer charged with violated federal safety rules after 2 workers died