A Wilmington construction contractor could have prevented a fatal workplace incident at the Cutler Majestic Theater in Boston that claimed the life of a 44-year-old construction worker in August 2024 by following required fall protection measures, a U.S. Department of Labor investigation has found.
Responding to a referral from Boston Police, inspectors with the department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration arrived at the theater, where NER Construction Management Inc. was contracted by the theater’s owner, Emerson College, for masonry work on the building. Inspectors learned the worker was removing netting from a pipe scaffold approximately 50 feet above ground when they fell. Despite wearing a safety harness, the investigation revealed that the employer failed to ensure the worker’s harness was properly tied off and did not conduct mandatory compliance inspections.
OSHA cited NER Construction Management for six serious violations and one other-than-serious safety and health violation for failing to do the following:
- Ensure workers used safety harnesses as required.
- Designate a competent person to inspect job site materials and equipment.
- Inspect the scaffold systems for defects before the day’s work shift began.
- Ensure scaffolds were erected, moved, dismantled or altered only by experienced and trained employees under a competent person’s supervision.
- Install a horizontal lifeline under the supervision of a qualified person to prevent fall hazards.
- Rig personal fall arrest systems to stop an employee from a free fall of more than 6 feet.
“This incident is a stark reminder of the devastating consequences when safety measures are disregarded,” said OSHA Acting Regional Administrator Jeffrey Erskine in Boston. “Employers have a responsibility to implement and enforce fall protection standards. Doing so can protect their workers from harm and prevent the grief and loss that accompany these entirely preventable tragedies.”
OSHA has assessed NER Construction Management with proposed penalties totaling $115,221, an amount set by federal statute.
View the citations OSHA issued to NER Construction Management Inc.
Founded in 1983, NER Construction Management Inc. offers new construction, building restoration, waterproofing and sealing, and masonry work in Boston and greater New England.