• Home
• Workers
• Regulations
• Enforcement
• Data & Statistics
• Training
• Publications
• Newsroom
• Small Business

Region 2 News Release:   NY 176
August 1, 2000
Contact: Chester J. Fultz
PHONE: 212-337-2319

The U.S. Labor Department's Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited twelve companies located at 260 West 36th Street, New York, New York and proposed penalties totaling $101,600 against the firms for 80 alleged serious violations of OSHA standards. The companies have 15 working days to contest the citations.

According to OSHA area director Richard Mendelson, the action results from a six-month investigation following a January 31 fire at the building in Manhattan's garment district, in which an employee of one of the building's tenants was killed as he attempted to scale down the outside of the building.

Citations were issued to the following employers:

• 260 West 36 Street Associates, the building manager;

• H&R Leather Fashions, Inc.

• Wearkstatt Ltd.

• Award Architectural and Astronomical Models, Inc.

• Iris Tailor

• 36 Apparel, Inc.

• Asian Eye Fashion, Inc.

• Stephen Singer Pattern Co., Inc.;

• Top Chance Fashion, Inc.;

• S and B Couture, Inc.;

• Broadway Office Products, Inc.;

• Quick Fuse and Cut, Inc.

A serious violation is defined as a condition which exists where there is a substantial possibility that death or serious physical harm can result. The alleged serious violations for which the employers were cited included:

• no fire alarm;

• obstructions on fire stairs;

• locked exits;

• exit aisles too narrow;

• failure to maintain sprinkler heads;

• failure to maintain stairway exit doors;

• failure to provide fire extinguishers;

• failure to provide emergency evacuation training;

• failure to mount fire extinguisher in a visible place;

• failure to provide adequate headroom in an exit corridor;

• failure to post appropriate exit signs and, on doors that could be mistaken as exits, signs reading "not an exit;"

• failure to practice good housekeeping.

The investigation was conducted by OSHA's Manhattan area office, located at 6 World Trade Center, room 881, New York, New York, telephone (212) 466-2481.