Paterson developer Charles Florio fined $215K over workplace safety violations

PATERSON — Charles Florio, the city’s most prolific developer, has agreed to pay $215,000 to resolve workplace safety violations issued against his companies at five separate Paterson construction sites in 2021.

The United States Occupational Safety and Heath Administration announced the settlement with two of Florio’s companies — Primetime Construction and Primetime Contractors — in a news release on Tuesday.

Federal officials said the violations involved scaffolding problems at 425 11th Ave. and a lack of handrails for construction workers at 188-189 Broadway, 122 Fair St., 73-75 Beech St. and 188-200 21st Ave.

“This agreement commits Primetime Construction LLC and Primetime Contractors LLC to correct their previously cited hazards and invest in significant and measurable practices and improvements designed to prevent falls, the deadliest hazard in construction work, and result in safer workplaces for their employees,” said OSHA Area Director Lisa Levy, based in Hasbrouck Heights.

Says employees weren't even at site

Florio said all the violations were caused by subcontractors hired by his Primetime companies, asserting that he thought it was bogus that federal officials would target him for the infraction.

“None of my employees were even at the site” when the violations were issued, Florio said.

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Florio said the fact that OSHA waited six months after its inspections — until the day before a penalty deadline — to issue the violation shows what he described as their questionable nature. By then, Florio said, the work was already finished and many of the apartments leased.

The developer said he agreed to the settlement to limit the cost of litigation. “I fought it at first, but you can’t beat the government,” he said.

Florio — a longtime supporter of Mayor Andre Sayegh — has built several thousand new apartments in Paterson during the past decade, most of them in the impoverished 1st, 4th and 5th wards.

In many cases, Florio developments rose from vacant and abandoned sites. But critics say Florio’s projects have created overcrowding in those areas and diminished the quality of life for people who already lived in those neighborhoods.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Paterson developer fined $215K over workplace safety issues