Feds propose fining excavation company $1.35 million for violations found after two of its workers were pushed into a downtown trench and died

The US Department of Labor today proposed $1.35 million in fines against Atlantic Coast Utilities and its owner, Laurence Moloney, for the deaths of workers Jordy Alexander Castaneda Romero and Juan Carlos Figueroa Gutierrez after a dump truck pushed them into a nine-foot trench on High Street on Feb. 24.

"The incident is the latest in a long history of ignoring the safety and health of its employees," the department said.

Chief among the violations was the company’s refusal to train Romero, Gutierrez and other workers to recognize and avoid work-related hazards. OSHA also found Atlantic Coast Utilities LLC/Advanced Utilities Inc. failed to conduct worksite inspections to identify and correct hazards, including the risks of being struck by construction vehicles and other traffic, crushed or engulfed in an unguarded trench, and being overcome by oxygen-deficient or toxic atmospheres in the trench and an adjacent manhole.

List of safety violations | List of health violations.

Moloney and his companies remain under investigation for a separate incident on Crestway Road in East Boston on Aug. 13, as well as for possible wage violations, the department added.

In a statement, Labor Secretary Marty Walsh - who was Boston mayor at the time of the deaths - added:

Two hardworking people lost their lives because Atlantic Coast Utilities put its own profits over workers’ safety and health. The failure of employers to follow federal safety and health regulations designed to keep workers out of harm’s way is absolutely unacceptable. This is yet another reminder of why the department’s mission to protect workers’ rights and ensure safe working conditions is so important.

Even before the deaths, Moloney and his companies had been cited six times for 14 violations, running up fines of $81,242, most of which went unpaid, and was turned over to private debt collectors.