I’ve always believed, and have said in the past, that until we start locking up executives who let workers die and be maimed on the job because of unsafe working conditions, the toll will continue to climb. That is why this is good news, just posted on the Times website:

Contractor Charged With Manslaughter

A Brooklyn contractor is being charged with manslaughter today in connection with an accident on a construction site in March that killed a worker who was digging a foundation, according to the Brooklyn district attorney’s office.

The contractor, William Lattarulo, is accused in the indictment of ignoring clear safety hazards and forcing his employees to endanger themselves so he could keep his construction moving forward. The indictment marks an unusual step for prosecutors, who rarely press charges against contractors. But it comes amid a spate of construction accidents that have killed or injured dozens of people and cast the city’s contractors and buildings inspectors in an unforgiving light.

The accident occurred on the morning of March 12 when a worker, Louro Ortega, was digging the foundation for a commercial building at 791 Glenmore Avenue in East New York. According to the authorities, Mr. Lattarulo, who owns several adjacent houses on the lot, was warned by a consultant and a more experienced contractor at the site that the new foundation was lower than the foundation beside it and needed underpins to keep it stable.

Instead of heeding those warnings, the authorities said, Mr. Lattarulo ordered Mr. Ortega to keep digging. Moments later, part of a wall from a residential building next door collapsed and sent rubble spilling onto Mr. Ortega, killing him and injuring another worker on the site.

   Hopefully, not the last time someone starts paying a heavier price–though, of course, there is still the matter of a trial.