No state agency regularly inspects gear that crashed

No governmental agency in Massachusetts is responsible for regularly inspecting movable scaffolding like the equipment that crashed onto Boylston Street and killed three people, the city of Boston's chief building inspector said yesterday.

Gary Moccia said that the state previously regulated such platforms and required a specific permit for them. But he said that the agency responsible was dismantled and that no other agency has stepped into the breach. The US Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration usually does not inspect unless there is an accident, he said.

The city ordered the contractors to stop work on the job yesterday, Moccia said. A local crane company was called in to remove the remaining pieces of the lift and to clean the street, he said.

''We stopped the job," he said. ''We told them no more work." City inspectors will work with OSHA as it conducts an investigation.

Kelly Nantel, a spokeswoman for the state's Executive Office of Public Safety, said the state does not regulate scaffolding of the type involved in yesterday's deaths. ''It is not within the state's jurisdiction," Nantel said last night.

Last night, Mayor Thomas M. Menino's chief spokesman urged the state to resume the inspections. ''We call upon the state to restore the inspections that were previously performed," said Seth Gitell.

OSHA records show that two contractors involved in yesterday's fatal accident have been fined several times by OSHA for safety violations over the last five years.

Macomber Builders, the South Boston firm in charge of the project, has paid or agreed to pay $14,012 in fines for four serious safety violations and four less serious ones since April 2001, according to the OSHA website. The fines against Macomber were for violating rules governing scaffolding and protecting workers from falls and excavation, among others, according to the OSHA website. OSHA initially sought much higher fines for more violations, but after customary settlement talks the fines were lowered.

In addition, a joint venture formed to build a hospital in Vermont in which Macomber was a managing partner also paid $3,000 in fines for two serious violations and three less serious ones, according to the website.

OSHA spokesman John Chavez defined a ''serious" problem as a violation in which there is ''a substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result and the employer knew or should have known of the hazard."

In a brief press conference late yesterday afternoon, John Macomber, the owner and chief executive of Macomber Builders, offered no detailed explanation for the accident but said an OSHA investigation would seek to uncover the cause.

He said his company has an exemplary safety record. ''Generally, OSHA is very pleased with us," he said. ''We try very carefully to keep safe jobs, and they have a very rigorous OSHA inspection program, as do our own vendors and subcontractors. So, typically, we're held up as a model of safety."

OSHA records also show that Bostonian Masonry, an East Walpole, Mass., subcontractor on the project, agreed to pay $22,150 in fines for 20 serious violations and two less serious ones in the last five years. The violations include multiple violations of scaffolding safety requirements, according to the OSHA website.

Macomber said Bostonian Masonry employed two of the workers who were killed yesterday. Calls placed to Bostonian Masonry officials and its board of directors yesterday seeking their comment were not returned.

It was unclear yesterday how the companies' records compared with other large construction companies; Chavez said his agency does not speak generally about the overall safety records of specific companies. Other major local companies, not involved in yesterday's fatal accident, have also paid thousands of dollars in fines, the records show.

But Moccia generally agreed that Macomber has a good safety reputation. ''They've been a good company," he said. ''We haven't had too much problems with Macomber." He added that he was unaware of any violations or complaints filed against Macomber with the city's Inspectional Services Department, which enforces the city building code.

Macomber said his company's insurance company has a safety officer who oversees ''an extensive safety program." But asked whether the company employed its own safety director, Macomber demurred.

Founded as the George B.H. Macomber Co. in 1904, the company has built some of the best-known structures in New England, including Boston's Paramount Theater, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and the Yale University Art Gallery, according to the company's website. Its current projects include an expansion of the Children's Hospital in Boston and WBUR's new headquarters in Brighton.