Editor’s note: This story by Susan Smallheer was published by the Brattleboro Reformer on Oct. 16.
[B]ELLOWS FALLS — A well-known Bellows Falls roofing and construction company is under investigation by federal officials after the death of one of its employees last month at a construction site in Hanover, New Hampshire.
Derek Goldsmith, 33, of Westminster, died in a fall at a job site for Jancewicz & Son of Bellows Falls, whose corporate name is Home Improvement Company of Vermont Inc.
Edmund Fitzgerald of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration said federal authorities were notified about a fatal worker fall on Sept. 22 at a home at 3 Mulherrin Farm Road in Hanover.
“OSHA opened an inspection that day. The inspection is ongoing,” said Fitzgerald in an email, adding there was no estimated completion date for the investigation.
According to Goldsmith’s obituary, he was a crew manager for Jancewicz & Son Roofing. He was survived by his girlfriend, two children, his mother and other family members.
The company’s social media accounts contained several mentions of Goldsmith, praising his work.
On Monday, Hanover Police Chief Charlie Dennis said his department responded to the scene of the fatal fall, notified OSHA and secured the site until federal investigators arrived to conduct their investigation.
The police chief referred all comments about the Sept. 22 accident to OSHA.
Jayson Dunbar, the president of Home Improvement Company of Vermont Inc., didn’t return a message Monday seeking comment. The company’s attorney, Larry Slason of Salmon & Nostrand law firm of Bellows Falls, could not be reached.
Jancewicz & Son was also fined by the state of Vermont earlier this month for seven safety violations involving improperly erected scaffolding at a work site in Woodstock last April.
The case was resolved Monday, with the company agreeing to a $2,500 fine, which had been reduced from $7,760, with the difference to be spent on safety, according to Stephen Monahan, the director of workers compensation and safety for the Vermont Department of Labor.
Monahan said Vermont’s OSHA office was aware of the fatal fall in Hanover, but that it was not participating in the investigation.
The roofing company, which was working on the North Universalist Chapel Society at 7 Church St., Woodstock, last April, was cited for seven violations, all but one of which was labeled as “serious” and life threatening. The violations dealt with the unsafe erection of scaffolding at the church, where Jancewicz employees were working on the roof.
The scaffolding was not erected following safety protocols; it was erected too close to existing electrical service lines; it didn’t have the required safety guardrails; and it did not have safety supports, such as poles, legs, posts, and uprights. Additionally, workers used a stepladder on top of the scaffolding, according to the Vermont OSHA file. The Vermont OSHA inspector took photos of the Jancewicz job at the church, which revealed that ladders were placed next to a snowbank. In addition, several scaffolding towers were not set up correctly on mudsills, which are stabilizing planks.
According to the settlement agreement between the company and Vermont Department of Labor, Vermont Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the company agreed to correct the violations and to pay the reduced fine of $2,500 because Jancewicz agreed to improve its safety training program. The company included an extensive list of equipment it had purchased since the April incident, as well as the training some of its employees had undergone.
According to the filing with the Department of Labor, Jancewicz had purchased $18,000 worth of equipment to improve safety at its construction sites, ranging from safety glasses to respirators and earplugs, as well as scaffolding training in May for some of its employees.
The company also submitted a list of pay vouchers totaling $8,000 for 33 employees who underwent safety training this year since the Woodstock incident.
Ironically, the company included five different pay vouchers or a “paycheck” from Goldsmith, who according to the Jansewicz records, had undergone safety training. The company listed two paychecks issued for Goldsmith on Sept. 27, which was five days after he died.
The company’s records also noted that several employees, including Goldsmith, had undergone “frame scaffold and access” training on June 9, 2018.
