Aug. 19. The NC Dept. of Labor has fined Charlotte-based Griffin Masonry Inc. a total of $68,400 for a job-site accident that resulted in the death of a worker Feb. 19.

The Labor Department cited Griffin for “one alleged serious violation of the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act of North Carolina with a penalty of $67,500 and one alleged non-serious violation of the OSH Act with a penalty of $900.”

Griffin has the right to contest the fine.

Oliverio Bustis-Quinterio died on the site of a single-family home that was being built at 17028 Island View Drive.

Labor officials said he was “raised in a basket connected to a boom truck, to a wall that was being built. When the employee left the basket and stepped onto the wall they fell to the ground.”

Timeline to contest

Griffin Masonry has 15 working days from receipt of the citations to request an informal conference with the Labor Department, to file a notice of contest with the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission of North Carolina (an independent board appointed by the governor to hear appeals of OSH citations), or to pay the penalty, a labor spokesperson said.

Griffin could not be reached for comment.

Civil penalties for OSH violations are included in the Occupational Safety and Health Act of North Carolina in the General Statutes.

The General Statutes say that the Labor Department has to take into consideration various factors such as the gravity of the violation, the size of the business, the good faith of the employer and the history of previous violations, labor department spokesperson said.

“The penalties are in no way designed to make up for loss of life. By law, the civil money penalties collected by the Labor Department are not the receipts of the department, but rather must be remitted to the Civil Penalty and Forfeiture Fund, which then distributes the monies to the public school systems,” a labor department spokesperson said.