Three migrant construction workers in their twenties, one from Ecuador and one with a young family, who were seriously burned following a work place accident / flash fire in the Williamsbridge section of The Bronx have filed a negligence lawsuit against BE Bronx Builders, LLC, Stagg Group, and Mark Stagg. The accident occurred at 739 East Gun Hill Road, a new building under construction, on Monday, May 15, as reported.

 

The suit alleges that the named entities are liable for failing to protect their employees from danger while using flammable waterproofing materials, and causing severe burn injuries to them, according to Jacob Fuchsberg Law Firm, a civil rights and personal injury law firm based in Manhattan, which filed the lawsuit on behalf of three of the four workers injured on the day. The FDNY told Norwood News three workers were hospitalized and four were injured, as previously reported.

 

According to Jacob Fuchsberg Law Firm, three workers brought the suit against “BE Bronx Builders LLC and the Stagg Group for third-degree burn injuries sustained from the workplace fire and explosion at a new apartment construction site 737 East Gun Hill Road, Bronx, near White Plains Road, on May 15th.”

 

The suit is filed against “BE Bronx Builders LLC, Stagg Group, and Mark Stagg for their negligent, careless, and reckless behavior by failing to protect their employees from danger while using flammable waterproofing materials.” It continues, “The explosion took place at a construction site on the first floor when these three men were waterproofing a storm water retention tank. While putting the sealant on the water tank in the basement of the building, the glue-like material caught fire and exploded.”

 

According to the suit, “The three men suffered third-degree, deep blistering burns to their hands and face. They were brought to Jacobi Hospital, admitted to the burn unit where they continue to be patients. The fire was so strong that it also melted the light fixtures in the area where they were working.”

 

The attorneys on the case are Alan Fuchsberg and Anthony Pagan of the Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Firm. Fuchsberg said of the case, “This tragedy was avoidable if only there had been professional quality supervision, following the safety instructions for using this hazardous flammable material. Unfortunately, laborers too often are unable to have a say in the conditions of their work environment.”

 

Norwood News spoke with Fuchsberg on June 1 and asked if criminal charges were also expected to be filed, in addition to the civil suit brought by the three workers, Fuchsberg said he didn’t know anything about that side of things. Norwood News has reached out to the Bronx District Attorney’s office for comment.

 

As recently reported, following a separate Bronx construction accident in 2019, three building contractors were indicted on Wednesday, April 12, in the first Bronx case to bring charges of manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide. It related to a construction fatality which took place, as reported by Norwood News at the time, at 94 East 208th Street in Norwood in 2019.

 

Meanwhile Fuchsberg said of the May 15th case in Williamsbridge, “This is a civil suit that’s based on the negligence, as well as violations of the building code, and New York State construction safety code regulations that caused serious injury to our client [in respect of those violations],” he said. Referring to the details of the incident, he explained, “It happened in a dark tank [pit] and when the accident happened, the light went out. They were stuck down there. They couldn’t get out. They had to go out of one little escape hatch where they had to put a ladder up in the middle of these conditions.”

 

The lawsuit alleges that BE Bronx Builders, LLC and the Stagg Group were responsible for the supervision and inspection of the construction site, as well as protection of the construction workers from exposure to safety hazards. The complaint alleges that defendants wrongly put their employees at risk of severe injury by failing to protect their safety while using hazardous material.

 

The suit outlined what NYC Department of Buildings (DOB) had told Norwood News as part of our previous story i.e. “After inspecting the incident, five violations were issued by the NYC Department of Buildings, including:

1. Failure to safeguard persons affected by construction violations
2. Failure to provide proof that workers had training for working in confined spaces
3. Failure to provide specification for using highly flammable material
4. Inadequate pre-shift safety meeting
5. Failure to provide FDNY permit for using a propane torch”

 

According to the suit, NYS Labor Law sections 200, and 241(6) were violated, requiring owners and general contractors to implement reasonable safety precautions to protect workers and create a safe job site. The complaint alleges that the defendants acted negligently, carelessly, and recklessly in failing to instruct, supervise, and protect these workers from fire risk, danger, and hazards.

 

Norwood News spoke by phone to two of the impacted workers on Thursday, June 1, while they were still in hospital. They requested not to be identified. We asked the first worker if he could explain what exactly happened. Speaking in Spanish, he said, “It’s hard to remember. I was working and when it started, they called us. I only remember that we were working, and there was a fire, and I don’t remember anything else more than that. I saw a fire and everything was lost.”

We understand from subsequent conversations with the legal firm that the electricity went out at that point and the workers were in the dark. When told that the fire department said the incident wasn’t a fire but a work-related incident that resulted in burns [involving a chemical substance] the first worker said, “Yes, something like that, but it was a fire. I don’t know how we got out of this pit. I called for [colleague’s name] and I don’t know how we got out of that pit. I called [colleague’s name, colleague’s name] and I got out of the pit,” the first worker said. He added, “I remember coming out of the hospital after 10 or 12 days.”

 

Asked if he was with colleagues at the time, he said, “Yes, I remember being with my colleagues but I really don’t remember much about the incident in there.” Asked what he was doing right before the accident, he said, “We were working, and I don’t know the name of this liquid we were applying to that floor…just that.. nothing more.”

 

Asked what type of liquid it was, he said he didn’t know. “After that, everything was erased,” he said. We asked if there was an explosion. He said, “I can’t tell you. I was just calling for [colleague’s name].” Asked if he had been burned, he said, “Thanks be to God, recently, I’ve been recovering slowly.” Asked where his burns were, he said, “In the face, in the two hands, and in the back.”

 

We asked if he had received any training on the use of the type of liquid chemical used. He said, “No, no I never applied this type of chemical, even in Ecuador, but when I got here, I applied it here. I applied it anyway.” Asked if there was a boss / construction manager on site at the time of the incident, he said, “We were working at the bottom [of the pit] and there were some people above.” Asked a second time if a boss / manager was there at the time, he said, “No, no, I don’t think he was there, but I don’t remember.”

 

We also asked the worker if a daily meeting to discuss the day’s work had been held that day. He said, “Recently, there was but that day, no. No, there was not.” Asked if he had any protection or any type of mask for his face, for example, he replied, “No, nothing [inaudible]. He added.. “…nothing more.”

 

The second worker, also speaking in Spanish, said the incident happened very fast. Asked to describe what happened, he said, “Before all of this, we were like applying glue and we were actively applying it on the floor, so that we could put paper over it. Suddenly, flames burst in the corner in the room / pit we were in.” Asked what percentage of his body had been burned, the second worker said, “Part of my face, part of my shoulder, from the top of my neck all the way down to my hands, and on the other side, my arm, from the elbow to the hand and nothing more.” Asked if he had been wearing any protective clothing, he said, “Nothing more than a mask.”

 

Asked if the mask had not protected his face, he said, “Yes, because the mask only covered a certain part. I still got parts burned anyway because the rest was exposed.” Asked if a daily planning meeting on the site had taken place that morning, he said, “No, it did not happen.” We asked if the boss/manager was there at the time of the incident. He said, “The person who is in charge of us was there in the morning. He gave us the instructions and then left to go somewhere else… I don’t know.”

 

Asked if it was the first time they had used this type of chemical, he said, “I’ve already used one [type] but that was the first day we used that [particular] one. We were using another one. That day, we were using a new one. That [new] one was a better one, but the truth is that that was the first time we used it.”

 

Asked if he remembered anything else about the incident, the second worker said, “What I only remember is that there was a flash inside, and smoke, and thanks to a work colleague that was there, he helped me to get to the exit. If we had waited a little longer, we wouldn’t have gotten out.”

Asked if the fire was big, he said, “How can I explain? It was a fire that appeared just suddenly and then it went out, and then, I felt heat and there was no ventilation, and there was only a small door, but there was no ventilation.” Asked if he was in a pit, he said, “It was in a divided room, and then when all this began, we all shifted to one side to get away from the fire but we couldn’t escape the smoke because it took over the room and there was no ventilation.”

 

He further explained, “The fire went out on its own. I don’t know why but it went out and then it was just a fog of smoke. It was unbearable in there. We could not breathe. The firefighters arrived afterwards, Thank God they helped us. They put in a ladder and more or less we tried to climb up and they pulled us out [of the pit].” Asked how many people were involved in the incident, he said, “Three.”

 

As previously reported, all hands were asked to respond to the location at 8.38 a.m. on May 15. An FDNY spokesperson told Norwood News at the time, “It was not a fire. It was a work-place related incident.” He explained that the department initially received a call regarding a fire at the location but it later transpired that it was a work-place related incident, saying there was some type of “ignition” that caused burns but that it was not a fire. [As above, construction workers said there was a fire.]

 

When asked, the FDNY official said neither was the incident a collapse. “It did result in four patients, all civilians, three of whom were transferred to Jacobi… the last one they treated on scene,” the spokesperson said. “Whatever caused [it] was a result of whatever materials they were using. I know they’re still doing an investigation over there,” he added.

 

Attached is a brief video of the scene at the location on the morning of the incident, where a section of East Gun Hill Road was cordoned off to vehicle traffic between Holland Avenue and White Plains Road. Several fire trucks and some police vehicles were seen in the area responding to the incident.

 

He said that first responders transported the injured workers by ambulance to a local hospital and that inspectors reported they were conscious at the time. Maggiotto said DOB issued a partial stop work order at the property, putting a halt to all hot work and waterproofing work at the site, as well as all work associated with the storm-water detention tank.

 

We mentioned that FDNY initially said that there were four injured people and that one had been treated at the scene and asked DOB if they wished to comment further on the number of injured. Andrew Rudansky, DOB press secretary, said the department had been informed by first responders that three injured workers were transported from the scene to a local area hospital.

 

 

A person wearing a Stagg Group shirt was seen interacting with City officials at the site. Norwood News reached out to Stagg Group for comment at the time. We did not receive an immediate response.

 

Fuchsberg said the law firm was hoping to get the fire report on June 1 from the FDNY. Norwood News has also requested the FDNY fire report. Asked what the current employment status was of the impacted workers, Fuchsberg said, “All three of them, the exposed parts of their bodies were their hands and their faces, and there are very severe injuries to those body parts, and I don’t know when they will be able to go back to work.”

 

Asked if they had any income currently, he said, “No.” We asked how they were surviving. Fuchsberg said, “Well, we do have a thing in the United States called Workers Compensation and it’s not based on immigration status. It’s based on the fact that you are employed, so hopefully they will get some help from Workers’ Compensation. We are doing what we can for them on that level. It takes a month or something.”

We mentioned that it was common in the construction industry to have third parties hire workers on behalf of developers and asked Fuchsberg if he knew if that was the case in this instance. “I think they were contracted by a third party on behalf of Stagg Group which supervised them, and unfortunately, given their status [the workers] they had no say in their working conditions, and the Stagg Group was not responsible….in supervising…. by directing them to use a flammable, combustible material in an enclosed unventilated tank.”

 

Asked if the hiring entity was also being sued, Fuchsberg said, “No, who we’re taking to court are the people who supervised them, who ran the construction site, who owned the building and the property, not the hiring company.” Fuchsberg said the workers were being paid by one company but supervised and managed by the Stagg Group.

 

“What we learned today because they’re [the workers] finally able to talk…..is that they’re working in a dark, enclosed tank,” the lawyer added. “I knew they were working in a tank, but I didn’t have the same picture of it with only one access and that was through the hatch, and because the tank is not a room but a tank, it had no lighting in it so they were running a cable wire, which our clients didn’t put there, down into it to give them some lighting while they were doing their work.”

 

Fuchsberg continued, “He said that all of a sudden a spark went off, the cable fell from where it was connected, and either because the thing banged on the ground and created a spark, or the spark came out of the wire, the electrical lighting, that’s what would have caused this combustion.” He added, “And then they hear them desperately trying to get out of there because they didn’t know what to do, they were caught in the dark, completely dark, so I guess it was like a short circuit.”

Fuchsberg said something must have happened with the wire because it was completely dark and the workers were very frightened. “All they know is dark and smoke and they didn’t know what to do and [they] find themselves over to where there was this escape hatch and line up the ladder, and get out of that..” he said.

 

Asked about the fact that, as reported, the FDNY said the incident wasn’t a fire but a work-related incident that resulted in burns, Fuchsberg said, “Well, they’re all badly burned so whether it was a flash fire that went out… I think the fire department is saying that when they got there, there was nothing in there to burn except for the fumes so it’s almost like a very hot explosion but […] they have third degree burns.” He continued, “Our clients describe seeing like a flash fire, whether it burned for 5 minutes or 2 minutes, I don’t know but there was definitely a flash fire.”

 

We asked Fuchsberg if the law firm had had any discussions with BE Bronx Builders LLC, Stagg Group, and Mark Stagg prior to the filing of the suit. He said there had been no discussions as the incident had already taken place. Norwood News reached out to BE Bronx Builders, LLC, Stagg Group, and Mark Stagg via different channels earlier this week for comment, pending the filing of the lawsuit. We did not receive an immediate response.

 

Of the victims, Fuchsberg said, “One of them came to this country two or three months ago with his little children and his wife and you know, you come to this country for opportunity and you’re put under these circumstances. They don’t really know where to turn or [how to] support themselves.”

 

See also our recent coverage on the topic of immigration.

 

Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to indicate that the incident took place at 739 East Gun Hill Road and the stop work order is in place for 739 East Gun Hill Road, according to NYC Department of Buildings (DOB). Initial reports were that the incident took place at 737 East Gun Hill Road. DOB documents indicate that 737 and 739 are part of the same lot.