Firm contests safety citations, $14,000 in penalties in collapse

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Halmar International is contesting two citations for safety violations in the fatal wall collapse in Maybrook in December.Jim Sabastian/for The Times Herald-Record

Published: 2:00 AM - 06/27/14

MAYBROOK Halmar International is contesting two citations for workplace safety violations and $14,000 in proposed penalties in the Dec. 2 collapse of a retaining wall that killed two workers and injured a third.

The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued the citations and proposed penalties of $7,000 per violation following a nearly six-month investigation into the accident.

The accident happened on a 3-acre construction site Halmar owns at 918 Homestead Ave. in Maybrook, where a mockup for an aqueduct project for the New York City Department of Environmental Protection was being built.

One citation said a retaining wall collapsed during a concrete pour because three diagonal braces were absent. The other citation was for not having drawings of the wall present on the site.

Two employees of a subcontractor for Halmar, Precision Concrete Pumping of Albany, were killed as a result of the collapse. Timothy Lang, 53, of Saugerties, was pronounced dead at the scene. Scott S. Winkler, 50, of Monroe, was taken to a hospital but died eight days later.

Halmar principal Chris Larson said the company believes the plans were at the site, as well as the allegedly missing braces, so the workers had all the materials and information necessary to properly assemble the retaining wall.

OSHA spokesman Ted Fitzgerald said Halmar's notice of contest will be forwarded to the OSHA Review Commission, which will docket the case. Also, the case file will be forwarded to the Office of the Solicitor at the Labor Department, of which OSHA is a part.

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Firm contests safety citations, $14,000 in penalties in collapse