By Rebecca Henely
Three construction companies, one chaired by the son of notorious Flushing developer Tommy Huang, are facing more than $116,000 in fines related to an Elmhurst accident in which one man was killed and three others were injured, the U.S. Department of Labor said earlier this month.
On Jan. 10, a 27-year-old father, Hedilberto Sanchez, died and three other workers sustained injuries when an 18-by-65-foot cinder block wall at 84-18 Queens Blvd. collapsed while they were pouring concrete into it.
Sanchez and a 38-year-old co-worker were standing on the scaffolding and the other two men, ages 39 and 48, were standing on top of the wall. Sanchez went into cardiac arrest and was pronounced dead on arrival at Elmhurst Hospital.
“This was a tragic incident that could have been avoided by taking the simple and obvious precaution of bracing the block wall before trying to fill it with cement,” said Kay Gee, Manhattan area director for the U.S. Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration, in a statement.
The site — planned to be a five-story apartment complex — is owned by Huang, who received a felony conviction in 1999 for ignoring asbestos contamination in Flushing’s RKO Keith’s Theatre and pouring hundreds of gallons of fuel oil into its basement. He was ordered to pay a $5,000 fine and sentenced to five years’ probation.
After an investigation by OSHA, Flushing-based companies Sing Da Corp., aka Chung Hing Co.; Vera Construction Inc.; and H Rock Corp., of which Tommy Huang’s son Henry is the president, have been cited with alleged willful, repeat and serious violations of work safety standards, the Department of Labor said.
Sing Da Corp., which is listed in New York’s Department of State records as inactive, was charged with failing to brace the block wall and five scaffold-related safety hazards. OSHA has proposed a $42,000 fine in regards to the block wall charge, and a collective $21,000 for the others. Sing Da Corp. employed Sanchez and the three injured workers, the Department of Labor said.
Vera received citations of alleged unguarded floor holes, failing to have caps on reinforcing steel and lack of safety program, which have a collective proposed fine of $8,580. OSHA also cited the company on charges of hazard communication failures and lack of hard hats, charges on which OSHA has previously given the company citations in 2008 and 2009, the Department of Labor said.
OSHA cited H Rock Corp. with numerous violations for a collective $38,000. These included three in regards to scaffold safety and the bracing of the concrete wall, as well as violations in regards to unguarded floor holes, lack of head protection and lack of a safety program, the Department of Labor said.
Reach reporter Rebecca Henely by e-mail at rhenely@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4564.
