Construction bosses lose licenses, face fines over worker death
Natalie Sachmechi
Scaffolding at 880 St. Nicholas Ave. at the time of the incident that killed Lala
The city has revoked the licenses of two construction companies involved in the death of a worker, Carlos Olmedo Lala, who fell from the illegal scaffolding at a Harlem building in June 2019.
Wayne Bellet of Bellet Construction and Mohammad Bhutta of Zain Contracting officially lost their licenses during a Nov. 18 hearing with the city, and Bellet's company must pay a $50,000 fine for the incident at 880 St. Nicholas Ave.
Their special rigger licenses were suspended in September 2019 after the Department of Buildings charged that they failed to get the proper permits for a 50-foot-high section of pipe scaffolding outside the building, where workers were repairing the facade.
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The DOB brought the case before the Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings, where it asked the judge to pull the rigger license for both companies. A license is required to hoist anything outside a building in the city, including using a crane or a suspended scaffold rig.
The revocation means the companies no longer may act as licensed riggers in New York City on a construction site, though they may perform construction work that isn't related to hoisting.
The Buildings Department also charged the contractors with 15 aggravated violations, plus one violation against the building owner, Shamco Management, carrying potential fines of $287,500. Several of the charges are awaiting hearings with OATH.
The DOB also found that the scaffolding lacked critical safety features including proper guardrails and adequate planks to support the workers, and that the workers did not have required scaffold-safety training.
As of last month, there were seven construction fatalities in the city this year, according to data from the DOB, a 36% decline from the same period last year, when 11 deaths were recorded.
Most of the deaths this year occurred in Brooklyn. Manhattan reported the most in 2019. Nearly 30% of the deaths were due to a worker falling, according to the data.
No fatalities were reported for March, April or May, when all nonessential construction was shut down by the state. The industry did not fully reopen until early June. One death occurred that month.
Bellet, Bhutta and Shamco did not respond to requests for comment.
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