LI Company Facing Major Fines After Employee's Fatal Fall

OLD BETHPAGE, NY — Calling it a "serial violator," a Long Island company is facing more than $1 million in fines related to the death of an employee at a Town of Oyster Bay facility last year.

On Aug. 19, 2021, a 56-year-old man working for Setauket-based DME Construction Associates Inc. died after falling 18 feet through an unsecured skylight while working at the Town of Oyster Bay solid waste disposal facility.

The man's death sparked an investigation by OSHA, the Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration. The investigation found that, in addition to the unprotected skylight that lead to the death, DME exposed workers to falls of up to 22 feet from other unguarded roof openings and roof edges, and failed to provide employees with any personal fall protection equipment.

“DME Construction Associates Inc. has continually ignored its legal responsibility to provide a safe workplace and that failure cost a worker their life,” said OSHA Regional Administrator Richard Mendelson. “Ensuring worker safety is not an option. The U.S. Department of Labor will hold employers accountable when they knowingly disregard the law requiring the use of personal protective equipment.”

According to OSHA, DME was required to give fall protection for all employees working higher than six feet off the ground. Before the incident at the town facility, OSHA said that DME had be cited seven other times since 2011 for fall-related hazards. The company had more than $50,000 in unpaid fines.

OSHA issued nine "willful violations" to DME for the August 2021 incident, which include eight violations of $145,000 for each worker who was not given fall protection while working on the roof. The company also received citations for four other fall hazard violations, and for violations related to the crane that was on the site.

The violations add up to $1,201,031 in penalties.