Rockland roofer accused of failing to protect workers from falls

In the three years following a fatal accident at a job site in 2019, Rockland roofer Jose Lema was cited for numerous safety violations, paid heavy penalties and pledged to train his workers on safety procedures, yet last year another worker died on the job under circumstances similar to the first fatality.

Lema, 40, was arrested at his home in Nanuet on July 25 and accused of willful violations of U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration regulations that resulted in the death of an employee.

The second fatality happened on Feb. 8, 2022 at a three-story apartment building in New Square, Rockland County, where Lema’s ALJ Home Improvement Inc. was working as a subcontractor.

It was cold and the plywood sheathing on the roof was wet and icy, according to a probable cause affidavit by U.S. Department of Labor agent Stephen Donnelly.

The roofing contractor sent a text message to Lema stating “before anyone goes on the roof make sure it’s 100% clean from snow and ice, No 1 should go on roof if there is even a little snow or ice.”

Lema replied, “Good morning okay.”

But Lema allegedly did not go to the worksite or check on the conditions of the roof, according to Donnelly. Instead, he instructed workers to install a new roof.

About 20 or 30 minutes later, a 25-year-old roofer fell off the roof and landed on the ground about 30 feet below. He was taken to a hospital and died from his injuries.

Lema, according to Donnelly, hired the man but did not know his name, and he is not identified in the affidavit.

OSHA regulations require employees working on residential construction projects at heights of more than six feet to be protected from falls. Roofers are typically tied into the roof, wearing harnesses that attach to ropes that are connected to anchor plates or brackets screwed into the roof.

OSHA safety officers who responded to the accident discovered that the victim was wearing a harness but did not have the parts that would connect to the roof. There were no anchor plates on the roof or holes consistent with anchor plates. Instead, the affidavit states, ropes had been fastened to bent and crimped nails.

ALJ was cited for 12 OSHA violations and fined $1,343,363.

The gist of the criminal case is that Lema, also known as Jose Lema Mizhirumbay, repeatedly failed to protect his workers.

He formed ALJ in May 2018. Nine months later, on a cold and snowy day, workers were installing a roof on a three-story house in Kiamesha Lake, Sullivan County. One of the workers slipped, fell 35 feet, and died from his injuries.

Jose Augustin Pichazac Cunin, of Spring Valley, left a wife, daughter and son, according to a civil lawsuit filed by his estate.

Cunin was not wearing a safety harness, according to the Donnelly affidavit, and ALJ had not trained him to recognize and protect himself from falls.

Lema agreed to pay a penalty and conduct hazard training for all employees.

Eight months later, in October 2019, an OSHA safety officer saw ALJ employees re-roofing a house in Edison, New Jersey, without protection. ALJ agreed to pay a penalty, hire a consultant to review its practices and conduct random jobsite inspections.

The following October, an OSHA safety officer saw ALJ employees working without protection 18 feet above ground level at a condominium in Suffern. Lema was hostile, according to Donnelly, and refused to provide the names of the employees. ALJ agreed to pay a penalty.

On three consecutive days in May 2021, the same safety officer saw ALJ employees working on the roofs of homes in Suffern. Some were wearing harnesses, some were not and no one was anchored to the roofs. One of the workers was the man who fell and died nine months later in New Square.

ALJ agreed to pay penalties.

Six months after the worker died in New Square, Donnelly says, an OSHA safety officer saw three ALJ employees wearing. safety harnesses that were not secured to the roof at a job in Ho Ho Kus, New Jersey. Lema was allegedly onsite and actively directing the work.

From 2019 to 2023, OSHA conducted eight investigations that resulted in 40 citations and $2.3 million in penalties. Lema knew that employees working higher than six feet from the ground needed to be protected, the affidavit states, but despite his knowledge and citations and fines he failed to protect his employees.

If convicted, a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office states, he could be sentenced to six months in prison and fined $250,000.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Margery Feinzig is in charge of the prosecution.