Editor’s Note: This story has been updated. Initial information from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration indicated the accident at Botany Bay resulted in a fatality. However, the incident code that was referenced is also used to indicate a “catastrophe,” which the agency said in a follow-up email was the case with this accident, and that there was not a fatality.
Officials from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration say a St. Thomas contractor has paid more than $26,000 after being cited for damage caused by a construction accident in June 2024.
According to a report recently made public, three construction workers suffered severe injuries when a scaffold they were working on collapsed at the proposed Botany Bay Hotel site on St. Thomas.
They were among 10 people rushed to the emergency room at Roy Schneider Hospital June 13, 2024. Previous reporting listed the date of the incident as June 14, 2024.
According to a summary of an OSHA inspection report in this case, “(A) Fatality/Catastrophe Report is an unprogrammed activity (UPA) intake form that must be completed for all fatalities or catastrophes unless knowledge of the event occurs during the course of an inspection at the establishment involved.”
The inspection summary identified the contractor as Immaculate Builders Council, LLC., based in Frenchman’s Bay. According to details contained in a government report, an executive of the company met with and spoke to local investigators on the day of the accident.
Safety violations resulting in two serious injuries and one circumstance listed as “Other” led to informal settlement payouts of $10,223 and $6,688, respectively. OSHA inspectors describe the payouts at the latest development in the case.
Although the initial inspection leading to an assessment of safety violations concluded by mid-August 2024, the federal case is ongoing.
Officials at the V.I. Labor Department and Gov. Albert Bryan Jr. — a former Labor commissioner — said they were aware of the accident and knew that OSHA was looking into the matter. Since then, however, local officials have been silent. Attempts by the Source to reach Labor Commissioner Gary Molloy were unsuccessful.
Government House Communications Director Richard Motta did not return calls seeking comment.
While it is not possible to gauge the magnitude of the harm caused by the Botany Bay accident yet, a 2015 article appearing online suggests the incident meets the standard for declaring it a catastrophe. “The major change to the Fat-Cat rule that OSHA has just implemented is how OSHA redefines catastrophe,” said an article published by the Washington Legal Foundation.
Under the change, any accident resulting in the hospitalization of three or more accident victims sets the measure that could make this one of the worst construction accidents in Virgin Islands history.
The current investigation comes at a time when the family of a construction supervisor won a $7.6 million jury verdict stemming from a fatal accident on the site of the Frenchman’s Reef Resort reconstruction project in 2021.
