Contractor, Developer Plead Guilty To Ignoring OSHA Regulations

POUGHKEEPSIE, NY — A New Jersey general contractor and a real estate developer admitted they wrongly violated federal safety requirements that caused the death of a construction worker in Poughkeepsie.

Damian Williams, the United States attorney for the Southern District of New York, said Thursday that Onekey LLC, a New Jersey construction company, and its principal, Finbar O’Neill, 57, of Paramus, New Jersey, pleaded guilty to willfully violating Occupational Safety and Health Administration regulations that resulted in the death of a worker in Poughkeepsie Aug. 3, 2017.

They will be sentenced May 12.

Williams said the company and its principal endangered the safety of their workers by willfully disregarding regulations and taking shortcuts to sidestep their safety obligations, leading to the tragic death of a worker on a construction site.

The guilty pleas “should serve as a reminder to all businesses that failure to comply with safety regulations endangers their workers and unfairly disadvantages businesses that are following the rules,” he said, “and this office will hold you accountable.”

According to prosecutors, Onekey and O’Neill implemented a soil-compaction plan at a construction site 1 Dutchess Ave. in Poughkeepsie. 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 Onekey and O’Neill 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.

Onekey and O’Neill did not consult with any qualified person to see if the wall could withstand the weight placed on it by the surcharge.

While people were working next to the wall, Onekey kept using construction machinery to add dirt to the surcharge pressing up against the wall. The workers near the wall were not warned about the dangers it created.

Onekey and O’Neill heard from people working at the site that the wall was not safe, but they did not fix the wall.

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 man ran away from the wall, but he could not get away in time and was killed.

Onekey LLC pleaded guilty to one count of willful violation of OSHA regulations resulting in death, with carries a maximum fine of $500,000.

O’Neill pleaded guilty to one count of willful violation of OSHA regulations resulting in death, which carries a maximum sentence of six months in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000.