Eyes On Noah Properties - Safety Issues

Safety Issues & OSHA Violations

Noah hires contractors that OSHA has labeled "Severe Violators"

In 2010, the Federal Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) created the "Severe Violator" designation. The designation is assigned to "employers who have demonstrated indifference to their OSH Act obligations by committing willful, repeated, or failure-to-abate violations." A number of the contractors hired by Noah Properties to build its projects have received the "Severe Violator" designation from OSHA.

In 2018, Noah Properties started construction on a set of residential buildings at West Walton and North Noble Streets in Chicago. The project contains a series of 3 story residential buildings marketed as luxury condos.

Noah Properties was permitted to start work on the Walton project in June 2018, and Noah Properties hired the same construction contractors for each of the buildings. On March 19, 2019, OSHA inspected the Noah Properties’ Walton project, and found very significant problems with Polo Masonry, the masonry contractor hired by Noah Properties. So significant in fact, that OSHA issued the largest fine to a construction industry contractor in the U.S. for the 3rd quarter of 2019 to the contractor on the Noah Properties project – a whopping $252,136. It was the 7th largest fine issued to a construction contractor by OSHA in 2019.

Included in the OSHA safety violations found at the Noah Properties’ Walton project were the following:

Workers were exposed to falls of more than 19 feet because of a lack of guardrails;
Workers were exposed to falls of more than 16 feet while working on balconies with unprotected edges;
The contractor did not use rebar caps to protect its workers from impalement hazards; and
The contractor did not maintain and submit the required injury and illness logs.

Noah Properties hired this same masonry contractor after one of its workers was killed on its jobsite in Chicago in 2017. According to OSHA, “At approximately 1:00 p.m. on February 4, 2017, an employee was cleaning up a work site below a new masonry construction of a commercial building. The employee was struck in the head when a masonry brick/block fell to the exterior of the building from the third floor. The employee was killed with multiple skull fractures.” Roman Iatsyshyn is the name of the worker that died.

Not only did Noah Properties continue to hire this unsafe contractor, it was the contractor they used most often. This masonry contractor, Polo Masonry Builders, has been listed on 175 of Noah Properties project permits. Polo Masonry Builders has received 55 violations and fined $547,174 by OSHA during the timeframe that it has been Noah Properties preferred masonry contractor. OSHA has labeled Polo Masonry Builders a “Severe Violator.” The owner of Polo Masonry is Petro Pariychuk, Noah Properties is still using him on several of its current projects.

OSHA issued the largest fine to a construction industry contractor in the U.S. for the 3rd quarter of 2019 to the contractor on the Noah Properties project – a whopping $252,136. It was the 7th largest fine issued to a construction contractor by OSHA in 2019.

Another contractor used by Noah Properties is Óg Plumbing. Óg has been fined $479,634 by OSHA in the past 8 years, and $443,684 in the past 5 years alone.

Óg was labeled a ‘Severe Violator’ by OSHA in 2016 after 3 separate inspections in one month that exposed workers to trenching hazards. From a 2016 OSHA press release:[2]

"After being told by an investigator to protect workers against trench cave-in hazards, Og Plumbing returned to work the next day and again exposed the same crew to the potential threat of being buried by thousands of pounds of soil and work in an unprotected trench," said Angeline Loftus, OSHA's area director for its Chicago North Office in Des Plaines. "Each year, dozens of workers die and hundreds suffer injuries when soil unexpectedly shifts and trench walls collapse burying them in mere seconds."

"Og Plumbing needs to evaluate its job site procedures immediately to ensure they use required protective systems. These can be the difference between life and death."

OSHA's inspection found:

On March 28, 2016, a four-man crew on a job site in the 1036 Washington Blvd. in Oak Park was working in a five and one-half foot-deep trench without cave-in protection and a means to enter and exit the trench. In addition, inspectors found workers not wearing hard hats.
On March 29, 2016, inspectors found the same crew working in a six-and-one-half-foot deep trench at 1035 Randolph St. in Oak Park without cave-in protection and a means to enter and exit the trench. After the investigator left the site, employees were seen re-entering the unprotected trench. As the investigator approached the trench the second time, the employees scrambled out of the trench. Shortly after this, a large section of the trench wall collapsed into the area of the trench where the employees were working.
On March 10, 2016, OSHA inspectors observed a crew installing water lines in a trench about six-feet deep at 1632 N. Western Ave., in Chicago, without cave-in protection. OSHA issued penalties of $69,300 to the company on April 25, 2016, for one willful and one repeated safety violation following its inspection.

On February 10, 2020, OSHA performed an inspection of an Óg Plumbing project at 2346 West Grand Avenue in Chicago. Óg was again cited for 5 violations related to trenching and other safety issues, and was fined $96,486.

Safety Issues on Noah Properties Current Projects

West Belmont & North Narragansett, Chicago IL

Noah Properties broke ground on a two building, 48-unit project at the corner of Belmont and Narragansett on November 10, 2020.

On June 1^st, 2021, a bystander took video of two workers walking along the edge of the 4-story building carrying joists. The workers were not wearing fall protection, and there were no guardrails or safety nets on site. The video can be seen above.

OSHA visited the jobsite after the bystander took the video, and found the carpentry contractor hired by Noah Properties willfully violating OSHA regulations. The contractor, Kesek #1 Construction Inc., was fined $33,255 for two violations:

A “serious” violation of OSHA regulation 1926.102(a)(1) - The employer shall ensure that each affected employee uses appropriate eye or face protection when exposed to eye or face hazards from flying particles, molten metal, liquid chemicals, acids or caustic liquids, chemical gases or vapors, or potentially injurious light radiation.
A “willful” violation of OSHA regulation 1926.501(b)(1) - "Unprotected sides and edges." Each employee on a walking/working surface (horizontal and vertical surface) with an unprotected side or edge which is 6 feet (1.8 m) or more above a lower level shall be protected from falling by the use of guardrail systems, safety net systems, or personal fall arrest systems.

1125 Elm Ridge Drive, Glencoe IL

On August 3, 2021, ERM Plumbing was working on a Noah Properties project at 1125 Elm Ridge Drive in Glencoe. OSHA inspected Noah’s single-family home project, and found 2 “Serious” and 2 “Repeat” violations (“Repeat” means the contractor has been cited for the violation previously). ERM Plumbing was initially fined $32,181 for these violations. The violations included:

A “Serious” violation for 1926.416(a)(1) - No employer shall permit an employee to work in such proximity to any part of an electric power circuit that the employee could contact the electric power circuit in the course of work, unless the employee is protected against electric shock by deenergizing the circuit and grounding it or by guarding it effectively by insulation or other means.
A “Serious” violation for 1926.651(b)(4) - While the excavation is open, underground installations shall be protected, supported or removed as necessary to safeguard employees.
A “Repeat” violation for 1926.100(a) - Employees working in areas where there is a possible danger of head injury from impact, or from falling or flying objects, or from electrical shock and burns, shall be protected by protective helmets.
A “Repeat” violation for 1926.652(a)(1) - Each employee in an excavation shall be protected from cave-ins by an adequate protective system.

Thatcher Avenue & Center Street, River Grove IL

Remi Development (the General Contractor owned by Noah Properties owner Bart Przyjemski) and its subcontractors were inspected by OSHA at the Noah Properties project at Thatcher & Center in River Grove, IL on October 13, 2020. The 4 contractors working onsite received multiple violations. 16 of the violations were labeled as ‘Serious’ by OSHA, 1 was marked as ‘Other’, and 1 was marked as a ‘Repeat’ violation – 18 total violations with initial fines from OSHA totaling $59,077.

OSHA violations at the River Grove project include:

A 'Repeat’ violation for “unprotected sides and edges” - workers not having fall protection while working over 6 feet off the ground.
Workers not having appropriate eye or face protection when exposed to eye or face hazards.
Workers on scaffolding over 2 stories high not having fall protection.
No rails on stairways with ‘unprotected’ edges.
Unsafe operation of a powered industrial truck, the operator had not been properly trained.
All 4 contractors received violations concerning the proper safety training for workers on the site.

One page of the notes from the OSHA inspector is copied below.

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