STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration has seized safety records from the Sunnyside-based construction company whose employee was killed last week as he worked on Staten Island Railway property, the Staten Island Advance reported.
Safety records for a period of a year and a half were taken from the M. Ferrante Construction Co., a subcontractor working under Granite Halmar of Ossining, N.Y.
Both companies were contracted by New York City Transit to install a $100 million signal upgrade on the Railway, a four-year project that has come under fire for being too ambitious and unnecessary on a two-track, enclosed, 14-mile passenger railroad.
The move indicates a possible widening of the probe. OSHA authorities were unavailable for comment due to the Christmas holiday.
Mensur Capa, 41, of Willowbrook was killed Thursday when the boom lift he was operating toppled over, crushing him under its heavy arm.
After the incident, the city Buildings Department issued Ferrante a violation for “unsafe construction practices.” In March, the firm was fined $46,800 by OSHA for eight previous violations. That fine was later reduced to $16,770 after a settlement was reached.
Michael Ferrante, the firm’s owner, did not return phone calls for comment.
The news of the seizure came as rumors began circulating that Capa was not a union member. Marissa Baldeo, a Transit spokeswoman, disputed those rumors, noting the company is a union shop. However, the agency does not require its contractors to hire only union workers, she said.
“We do require them to pay the union rate, though,” she added.
It is also still unclear if Capa was licensed to operate the machine. A Buildings Department spokeswoman said a permit was not required, but construction industry experts say OSHA mandates that all boom lift operators be licensed and properly trained.
“There is a minimum training required, and you have to have the [certification] card in your pocket. It’s a federal law,” said R last night odney Mason, a construction safety coordinator in Ohio. “It’s not something they can supersede.”
The equipment Capa was operating is called a “Pettibone” [for the company that makes it] all-terrain lift. The truck-like machine has four tractor-trailer-sized tires and a crane-like boom arm, which extends out in front of the vehicle.
Capa was working on the building that once housed the Railway’s substation. The structure is being converted into a new train dispatch and control center.
The project — which also includes new electrifying track switches and fiber-optic installations along the tracks — is now moving into its third year.
In what Transit officials are calling an unrelated move, Michael Downer, project manager on the signal upgrade, was moved to a new project the day before Capa’s death.
Criticism of the Railway’s safety record is mounting. Earlier this month, a young woman’s foot was caught in the door of a train as it left a station, dragging the 19-year-old for several feet.
Railway employees have also questioned whether safety regulations are being followed by the contractors who work along the tracks.