The Massachusetts development firm behind the positioning of a deadly trench collapse on Cape Cod has been in a authorized battle with Yarmouth because the summer season, suing the city simply months earlier than the lethal incident, courtroom data present.
Revoli Building, a Franklin-based common contractor, filed a grievance in Norfolk Superior Courtroom in opposition to the city of Yarmouth in early September, arguing that officers within the seaside group have engaged in “intentional” contract breaches, “work shutdowns,” and “discriminatory conduct.”
City oficials deny Revoli’s allegations, countering that the corporate’s conduct across the challenge website has brought about “multiple hazards, injuries, and property damage due to poor work and planning,” in keeping with a response and counterclaim filed final month.
The city awarded the corporate a $17.9 million contract for a section of the $207 million sewer challenge within the spring of 2023, in keeping with city data.
City Supervisor Robert Whritenour says that he needs Revoli hadn’t been permitted for the work, claiming that the corporate was chosen as a result of it submitted the bottom bid, the Cape Cod Occasions reported on Friday.
“The key is they are an independent contractor,” Whritenour mentioned. “They are solely responsible for safety issues.”
Questions are swirling within the mid-Cape city after a trench collapsed on the worksite within the space of 152 South Shore Drive in South Yarmouth, the handle of The Skipper Restaurant and Chowder Home, final Tuesday, killing one Revoli employee and injuring two others.
Authorities have recognized the deceased sufferer as Miguel Reis, 61, of Fall River.
The Massachusetts Coalition for Occupational Security & Health is demanding accountability from Revoli, an organization thy say has discovered itself mired in security violations and authorized hassle over the a long time.
“This is not an isolated accident,” MassCOSH Government Director Tatiana Begault mentioned in an announcement. “This is a pattern of indifference — a disgrace to the labor community and an insult to every worker who leaves home expecting to return safely.”
The advocacy group is asking for restitution to the households of fallen staff equal to the “wages the worker would have earned over their lifetime,” and to the state, “proportional to the harm and public resources expended after preventable tragedies.”
State Police detectives with the Cape & Islands District Lawyer’s Workplace are investigating final week’s deadly incident with the federal Occupational Security and Health Administration.
Final week’s trench collapse close to Parker River Seashore will not be OSHA’s first time investigating a security incident on the challenge associated to Revoli’s conduct.
The location of the ditch collapse is simply two-tenths of a mile away from 174 South Shore Drive, the handle of a earlier Revoli incident, on Dec. 18, 2024, in keeping with an OSHA inspection element report.
OSHA discovered that staff have been “exposed to arc flash, electrical burns, electric shock and electrocution when electrical extension cords with indoor-rated connectors were left lying on wet ground.”
The feds issued an preliminary penalty of $11,585 to Revoli, with the final contractor paying a $6,950 tremendous as a part of a “formal settlement,” reached this previous August, in keeping with data.
“The employer did not initiate and maintain a safety program which provides for frequent and regular inspections of jobsites, materials, and equipment to be made by a competent person,” the OSHA report states.
MassCOSH is demanding that there be statewide bans on contracting with firms that “repeatedly break the law and put workers’ lives at risk.”
“This tragedy is not just a regulatory failure — it is a moral failure,” Begault acknowledged. “When a company’s history shows a clear, ongoing disregard for worker safety, allowing them to continue operating without consequences is a betrayal of every worker in the Commonwealth.”
