| Danis Building Construction Company, Issue No. 1 |
May 2000
|
The Contractors Critic
Danis Building Construction Company Reporting on Safety, Productivity, and Honesty in the Construction Industry.
|
NEW NAME, OLD PROBLEMS
|
A new name for danis
construction, but the same old problems
| Today, its called Danis
Building Construction Company, a subsidiary of Danis Construction Company Inc.
In 1997, it was called Danis Construction Company. Five years earlier, it was
called Danis Industries Building Construction Group. This large general
construction contractor and its sister companies have also recently done
business as Danis-Shook, Danis Heavy Construction, Danis Transportation, Danis
Clarkco Landfill, Danis Properties and Danis Environmental. But under any name,
Danis and its corporate relatives have had a blizzard of safety problems and
messy litigation.
This issue of the Contractors Critic is based on Laser’s preliminary
investigation of Danis’s
business practices and problems in the construction industry. In future
issues The Contractors Critic will have a complete listing of OSHA citations and
report on the most grievous violations. The Critic will also include more
information on Danis’ troubling litigation problems.
DEATH ON A DANIS JOB
| An October, 1998 courtsuit
provides details of a mind-numbing instance of unsafe work practices at a Danis
job site. James Wagner, a Danis-Shook employee, had to watch in horror as his
own father was sucked down a huge drain and drowned in a pipe at the Green
County, Ohio sewage treatment plant. Mr. Wagner was working in a 20 foot-deep,
open surface tank at the sewage plant. He was ordered to remove the drain cover
in the bottom of the tank so water could drain. He asked if he could use a
safety harness, but none were available. When Wagner tried to remove a plastic
sheet from the drain, a plywood sheet covering the drain collapsed and the
vortex of water sucked Wagner to his death while his own son watched.
OSHA investigated and levied two serious citations and a $12,600 fine against
Danis, charging: "(The Danis-Shook joint venture) did not furnish… a place of
employment which was free of recognized hazards that were…likely to cause death
or serious injury …employees were exposed to potential engulfment hazards while
entering the Equalization Basin…employees …were not instructed in the nature the
hazards involved... employees working at the waste water treatment plant did not
receive training...were not notified of the basins being confined spaces… and
were not trained or instructed about the potential hazards and the precautions
and protective measures to be used in avoiding exposure to hazards." (98CV03673)
The court complaint charged that Danis-Shook ordered workers into the Basin
without safety equipment and intentionally and flagrantly disregarded worker
safety. This lawsuit is currently pending.
139 osha violations & over $135,000 in
fines
| OSHA records show that in
Ohio alone, Danis has racked up 139 OSHA violations and over $135,000 in fines.
One recent and startling example occurred on October 4, 1999, when OSHA
inspected a Danis construction site in Dayton, Ohio.
The inspectors found seven "serious" violations and a "willful" breach of
safety rules governing fall protection. OSHA assessed an incredible $98,500 fine
against Danis. This is the largest fine ever levied against a contractor studied
by The Contractors Critic.
Just a few months earlier, in June, 1999, OSHA cited Danis for yet another
serious violation, including non-compliance with fall protection rules, and
levied a $2,250 fine against Danis.
In October, 1998 a Danis-Shook plumber died after drowning while working in
an open surface tank. Danis was assessed another $12,600 in fines for two more
serious violations.
In May, 1997, a worker complained to OSHA about exposure to toxic silica air
emissions on a Danis job site. OSHA cited Danis for a total of eleven serious
violations on two job sites and proposed fines totaling $17,550. Danis later
plea-bargained to some citations and paid $11,500 in fines.
OSHA inspected Danis at Cedarville College in March, 1996, and cited Danis
for two serious violations and levied a $6,375 fine. Danis plea bargained it
down to a single serious citation and a $1000 fine.
The OSHA citations list goes on and on, with Danis racking up over one
hundred citations and hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines over the last
several years, just in Ohio.
Danis has also sued and been sued in scores of court cases, over causes of
action ranging
from unsafe construction techniques that caused a workers death to Danis’
involvement in a "Superfund" toxic waste dump. | | | | | | | | |
