Boston

Contractor in Boston Building Debris Incident Had Prior Safety Violations

City officials have yet to explain what happened Thursday when a metal bar apparently fell from the roof of a five-story building and struck a woman who was walking underneath

What to Know

  • A woman in her 30s suffered life-threatening injuries when she was hit by falling construction debris in Boston on Thursday morning.
  • City records show Corolla Contracting of Winthrop pulled a permit in May for a roof replacement project at the building
  • The company paid a combined $11,400 in fines to resolve several cases over the last seven years

A contractor working on a construction site in Boston's North End, where falling debris struck a pedestrian Thursday, has a history of minor safety violations, according to federal records.

Corolla Contracting of Winthrop, the general contractor on the project, was cited four times by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration for failing to follow OSHA safety protocols at job sites in Massachusetts and New Hampshire over the past seven years. The company paid a combined $11,400 in fines to resolve the cases, which involved safety guidelines for ladders and protecting against falls.

City officials have yet to explain what happened Thursday when a metal bar apparently fell from the roof of a five-story building on Atlantic Avenue and struck a woman in her mid-30s who was walking underneath, leaving her seriously injured.

City records show Corolla Contracting of Winthrop pulled a permit in May for a roof replacement project at the building. At least one subcontractor was also hired for the project, and it remains unclear who was working at the building at the time.

The head of Boston’s Inspectional Services Department declined Thursday to identify the companies, but said workers are cooperating with the city’s investigation.

Efforts to reach Corolla Contracting for comment were unsuccessful. The building's owner, CL Properties, referred questions about the construction work to a real estate management company, Brigs, LLC. A representative of the company declined to comment on the circumstances.

Prior to Thursday’s accident, the company had received a handful of violations for failing to meet federal safety standards.

Most recently, it paid a $1,000 fine in 2017 after OSHA inspectors received a complaint about one of its job sites in Weymouth.

Before that, it paid a $6,000 fine after an inspection at Southern New Hampshire Medical Center in Nashua turned up one serious violation of safety rules that protect workers from falling off of roofs.

Two years earlier, the company paid $1,000 to settle another violation of the same safety standard at a library in Merrimack, New Hampshire.

OSHA also hit the company with a $5,600 fine in 2012 after receiving a complaint about construction in Revere. Inspectors cited the company for two serious violations related to fall protection and ladders. It paid $3,400 to settle the case.

Corolla Construction was also involved in two civil cases in Middlesex Superior Court, though neither involved workplace safety problems.

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