The operator of Boston Concrete Corp LLC, also doing business as VMT Contractor LLC and Boston Concrete and Remodeling LLC, was cited for two willful and six serious OSHA violations and fined $283,115 after a worker died in February 2024 when a foundation wall section collapsed into an unprotected trench at a Hanson, Massachusetts residential worksite.

Boston Concrete Corp LLC — Worker Crushed in Foundation Trench, Hanson MA (2024)

Outcome: One worker died when a foundation wall collapsed into an unprotected five-to-six-foot trench during residential waterproofing work in Hanson, Massachusetts; the operator of multiple shell contractor entities was cited for two willful and six serious OSHA violations and fined $283,115.

In February 2024, a worker employed by Aleckssandro Tomaz Pereira — operating under the names Boston Concrete Corp LLC, VMT Contractor LLC, and Boston Concrete and Remodeling LLC — was directed to enter a five-to-six-foot-deep trench beneath a residential foundation in Hanson, Massachusetts to prepare a foundation wall for waterproofing and install concrete footings. The worker was in the unprotected trench when part of the foundation wall broke free and fell on him, fatally crushing him.

OSHA's investigation found a comprehensive failure of excavation safety requirements. The agency cited two willful violations for failure to provide any cave-in protection and for permitting digging beneath the unsupported foundation wall. Six serious violations covered failure to train workers on collapse hazard recognition, failure to ensure a safe means of egress from the trench, failure to remove accumulated standing water that weakened the excavation, and other hazard-specific failures.

OSHA proposed a penalty of $283,115.

Primary Source: Department of Labor finds Massachusetts waterproofing contractor's safety failures led to employee's crushing death in Hanson collapse