For Immediate Release
April 19, 2006
Please Contact: Michael Bloom, 617-722-1650

Legislature Launches Investigation
of Construction Safety Rules
Senate Chair Barrios and House Chair Coakley-Rivera
Form Subcommittee To Propose Changes

Boston, MA – The Legislature’s Joint Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security yesterday officially launched its investigation into the state’s construction safety regulations. A Subcommittee on Construction Oversight was created and charged with reviewing what can be done to strengthen regulation and oversight of construction sites.
“We have a responsibility to make sure every work place is safe for those who work there and those who pass by,” said Senator Jarrett T. Barrios, Senate Chairman of the Joint Committee. “If lapses have occurred in the current system then legislators and state officials must work together to avoid future tragedies and make sure construction site are safe for everyone.”

Barrios and the House Chairwoman Representative Cheryl Coakley-Rivera said they want the Subcommittee to explore whether or not the state should expand state oversight of construction sites by developing a state Occupational Safety and Health Administration plan. Such a plan would give more responsibility to state officials for the oversight of health and safety conditions.

“When accidents occur, we have to do more than point fingers,” said Coakley-Rivera. “A function of our legislature in this state is to be investigative. It’s never one person, one agency or one company that is at fault. The bottom line for this subcommittee is to sort through all the confusion and propose new laws that will ultimately strengthen workplace safety.”

After the tragic construction accident in Boston that resulted in three deaths, a spotlight was cast on loopholes in the regulation of construction site safety. On Tuesday April 11, the Joint Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security held an oversight hearing where they heard from state officials, construction companies, and union officials about what the state can do to strengthen oversight of construction sites.

The Joint Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security’s investigation mirrors a successful model the Committee has used in the past to improve the state’s public safety laws. After the Rhode Island night club fire and Sizzler amusement park ride tragedy, the Committee convened subcommittees that proposed new laws which were eventually passed into law. The Subcommittee on Construction Safety’s first meeting was Tuesday April 18.

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