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🗞️ Long Island DME Construction Associates Settles for $600K After Fatal Skylight Fall

Setauket roofing contractor DME Construction Associates settles OSHA violations after worker's fatal 18-foot fall through unprotected skylight, agreeing to $600K penalty and enhanced safety measures following criminal conviction.

onthelaborfront

26 Jan 2026 — 3 min read

DME Construction Associates Inc., a Long Island-based roofing contractor, has entered into a settlement agreement with the U.S. Department of Labor to resolve willful safety violations stemming from a fatal workplace incident on August 19, 2021. A 56-year-old worker died after falling 18 feet through an unprotected skylight while working at the Town of Oyster Bay municipal building.

An investigation by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) revealed that DME exposed workers to falls of up to 22 feet at unguarded roof openings and roof edges while replacing steel roof decking. The company failed to provide any personal fall protection equipment to employees, despite having a job safety plan that required fall protection for all employees working on unprotected surfaces 6 feet or more above a lower level.

The settlement affirms all citations originally issued by OSHA in February 2022, including nine willful violations. Eight of these were egregious per-instance citations—one for each of the eight employees who worked on the roof without fall protection. OSHA had initially proposed penalties totaling $1.2 million and placed DME in its Severe Violator Enforcement Program (SVEP), a designation reserved for employers demonstrating indifference to safety obligations through willful, repeated, or failure-to-abate violations.

Under the January 2026 settlement agreement, DME must pay a $600,000 penalty and implement comprehensive safety improvements, including developing a written company safety plan, ensuring adequate fall protection equipment for every worker on every jobsite, notifying OSHA of all upcoming jobs at least one week in advance, permitting warrantless OSHA entry at all worksites, and requiring all supervisors to complete OSHA's 30-hour construction safety training.

This was not DME's first encounter with OSHA over fall protection. Prior to the fatal incident, OSHA had cited the company seven times since 2011 for fall-related hazards, including failures to provide protection from falls through skylights and from roof edges, with more than $50,000 in unpaid fines.

In addition to the civil settlement, DME Construction Associates and owner Peter Chardon pleaded guilty in November 2025 to criminal violations of the Occupational Safety and Health Act related to the fatality. They await sentencing scheduled for April 2026. Separately, in June 2022, Chardon and DME pleaded guilty to workers' compensation fraud charges, admitting they misclassified roofing workers as "painters and decorators" to obtain lower insurance premiums, defrauding insurance companies of nearly $300,000 between 2017 and 2021.

Key Points

Fatal Incident: Worker died from 18-foot fall through unprotected skylight at Town of Oyster Bay municipal building on August 19, 2021
Settlement Terms: $600,000 penalty, mandatory comprehensive safety plan, advance job notifications to OSHA, warrantless worksite inspections, 30-hour supervisor training
Violations: Nine willful violations, including eight egregious per-instance citations for exposing eight workers to unprotected fall hazards
Repeat Offender: DME cited seven times since 2011 for fall-related hazards with over $50,000 in unpaid fines
Criminal Charges: Company and owner Peter Chardon pleaded guilty in November 2025 to criminal OSHA violations; sentencing scheduled for April 2026
Additional Violations: June 2022 guilty plea for $300,000 workers' compensation insurance fraud involving worker misclassification
SVEP Designation: DME placed in OSHA's Severe Violator Enforcement Program, subjecting it to enhanced enforcement and mandatory follow-up inspections