By Marc Larocque
The Enterprise
BROCKTON, Mass. — An ambulance company serving Brockton is facing scrutiny from a federal agency over complaints about workplace conditions at a new facility in the city.
Brewster Ambulance recently moved into 1555 Main St., on the south side of Brockton, in a former car dealership that was previously occupied by Copeland Chevrolet. The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration said it has an open case looking into conditions at the facility.
OSHA said that it opened a case looking into conditions at Brewster Ambulance on Feb. 7, after receiving a complaint about conditions inside the building affecting employee health and safety.
Brewster Ambulance said the complaint was mainly about bathroom access at the new building, but representatives of the company rejected the complaint as “unfounded” and said there will be no citation forthcoming.
Brewster Ambulance recently moved into the Main Street building, with a sign still hanging outside on Wednesday, stating that it is the “future home” of the ambulance service. Previously, the company’s main base in the city was on West Chestnut Street, in a building that now has a sign for Lynch’s Towing out front.
Brewster Ambulance began responding to emergency calls in Brockton in 2015, when Mayor Bill Carpenter awarded the company with a contract. Brewster Ambulance replaced AMR, which held a contract in Brockton for nearly 35 years.
OSHA said it has six months from the Feb. 7 start date to finish its inspection and then issue its findings on the conditions at the new Brewster Ambulance facility.
“It was opened because OSHA received a complaint,” said OSHA spokesperson James Lally, who declined to provide additional information, citing the ongoing nature of the investigation. “The inspection is still open so OSHA does not have any publicly available documents related to the inspection at this time.”
Mark Brewster, president and CEO of Brewster Ambulance, said OSHA told the ambulance company that the complaint was “completely unfounded.” Brewster complained that The Enterprise was reporting on the ongoing investigation, calling it “slander,” and claiming that a competitor was behind the complaint.
“It’s one of our competitors trying to start trouble,” said Brewster, without naming the competitor. “I think we are a good community partner with the city. I’m just disappointed. ... I’m just very passionate about this business.”
Kim Cordeiro, director of operations for Brewster Ambulance’s Brockton base, later said that it was “speculation” that another company was behind the OSHA complaint.
Mark Brewster added to that, stating that the complaint originated from “shop talk” about the bathroom situation at the Main Street building. Brewster said the transition to the new building was not complete at the time of the complaint, and that only day crews were working there at the time, running about 10 trucks out of the building.
“It could be a competitor that overhead a crew,” Cordeiro said.
Cordeiro said the complaint was mainly about access to toilets in the garage area of the 1555 Main St. building. Cordeiro said there was a sufficient amount of toilets, but the door to the bathroom has a lock.
“We are required to have two toilets – we do – but due to door locks, (employees) need access to a second toilet,” Cordeiro said.
Cordeiro said the employees working in the garage area have been ensured access to another bathroom in a training area, which is located next to the garage area. That remedies the situation, Cordeiro said.
"(OSHA) came out and investigated, and they found we have enough bathrooms, but we need to ensure the access is there,” Cordeiro said.
A claim that the building lacked carbon monoxide detectors was also included in the OSHA complaint against Brewster Ambulance, Cordeiro said. But Cordeiro said that complaint was already addressed before Brewster Ambulance received the OSHA complaint.
The Brockton Fire Department came to the building after people smelled an odor, but there was no carbon monoxide detected by the fire department, Cordeiro said. After that, Brewster Ambulance added additional carbon monoxide detectors to the building, she said.
“There was carbon monoxide detectors in the building, and then we placed additional ones because the fire department came out,” Cordeiro said. “That was addressed before we were ever notified of any OSHA complaint.”
But Cordeiro said the claims made against Brewster Ambulance will not result in any OSHA citations against the company. Cordeiro said Brewster Ambulance makes sure that employees have everything they need, and she said the company goes beyond federal guidelines to make sure they are comfortable.
“The case is closed,” Cordeiro said. “We’re just waiting for the official paper work to be mailed.”
Copyright 2018 The Enterprise