Feds set fines in scaffold tragedy - By Casey Ross, Boston Herald
OSHA inspectors found the horrific April 3 collapse occurred when workers removed a vital brace while dismantling the mechanized equipment 13 stories above Boylston Street. Within seconds, the 10,000-pound scaffold somersaulted off the side of the building, throwing workers Robert Beane, 41, and Romildo Silva, 27, to their deaths and killing Michael Ty, a 28-year-old surgeon who was crushed while waiting in traffic.
One OSHA citation to Bostonian Masonry, the firm that employed the workers who died, indicated that inspections of scaffolds failed to note “missing platform bolts, incorrectly installed anchor braces, missing mast-stops” and several other key deficiencies.
Inspectors also found the scaffold platform could not hold enough weight to satisfy safety specifications, that ties and braces were installed in the wrong places and that workers on the scaffold were not properly trained or wearing safety harnesses.