Contractor Faces $4.7 Million OSHA Penalties After Fatal Cave-In

The US Department of Labor cited Revoli Construction Co. Inc., a Massachusetts-based water and sewer line construction contractor, for willfully and repeatedly exposing workers to safety hazards in a trench collapse that killed one employee last year, the agency announced Wednesday.

DOL assessed the company $4.7 million in proposed penalties, the DOL said.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s investigation found that workers were removing sandy soil and installing steel plates outside a trench when the backfilled sand collapsed, trapping two workers inside the trench, with one worker engulfed and sustaining fatal injuries. The agency cited the employer with seven ...