Court Upholds OSHA Citations Against WSC Group LLC — Occupational Health & Safety

Court Upholds OSHA Citations Against WSC Group LLC

The New York contractor was involved in a trench collapse in 2018.

• By Robert Yaniz Jr.
• Aug 18, 2023

An administrative law judge has upheld OSHA’s citations of Brooklyn-based contractor WSC Group LLC.

In a release dated August 15, OSHA announced the decision, which stems from a September 2018 trench collapse that claimed the life of a WSC worker. Following that incident, OSHA determined in March 2019 that the company failed to provide effective protections, leaving trench workers exposed to excavation hazards.

After this decision, WSC Group contested the citations. But the case was put on hold due to the criminal charges leading to the conviction of WSC owner Jiaxi “Jimmy” Liu in March 2023. With that resolved, the OSHA charges were brought back into focus. And following this decision, WSC Group must now pay $50,000 in penalties.

“This settlement affirms OSHA’s citations, which found that this employer knowingly failed to construct the trench protection system properly and did not use other safeguards that would have prevented a worker’s death in a cave-in,” OSHA Regional Administrator Richard Mendelson in New York said in a statement. “It also confirms that neither WSC Group LLC nor its owner will ever engage in construction work again.”

The judge’s conclusion is currently set to become a final order on August 21, 2023.