Case 4:19-cr-40080-KES Document 4 Filed 09/10/19 Page 1 of 3 PageID #: 10 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT DISTRICT OF SOUTH DAKOTA SOUTHERN DIVISION UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, CR 19 ^ Plaintiff, FACTUAL BASIS STATEMENT vs. HULTGREN CONSTRUCTION, L.L.C., Defendant. Defendant Hultgren Construction, L.L.C., agrees that the following facts are true, and the undersigned parties stipulate that the foUowing facts establish a factual basis for the plea in the action pursuant to Federal Rules of Crixoinal Procedure 11(b)(3): On or about the 2^'^ day of December, 2016, in Minnehaha Couniy, in the District of South Dakota, the Defendant, Hultgren Construction, L.L.C., an employer under the provisions of the Occupational Safety and Health Act, did willfully violate the standards and regulations relating to instruction and training on proper demolition methods promulgated and prescribed under the Act and said violation caused'the death of Ethan McMahon, in violation of 29 U.S.C. § 666(e). At times relevant to this case, Hultgren Construction, L.L.C., was a company providing residential and commercial construction services throu^out South Dakota, and the company employed approximately eleven (11) employees in South Dakota. On or about and at times prior to December 2, 2016, Hultgren y 7 Case 4:19-cr-40080-KES Document 4 Filed 09/10/19 Page 2 of 3 PageID #: 11 Construction, L.L.C., tiie controlling and exposing employer, did not sufficiently instruct employees in the recognition and avoidance of unsafe conditions related to temporary shoring supporting a multi-story building. Employees were tasked to remove two adjoining exterior load bearing walls between the ground level and first floor. Employees were not sufficiently instructed in the means and methods for building and installing a temporary shoring system to transfer the budding loads from the foundation to the shoring system. In the morning hours of December 2, 2016, an employee was fatally injured as a result of removing the last segment of the load bearing wall, thereby causing the structure to collapse. Hultgren Construction's acts and omissions exhibited a general indifference to a known and obvious hazard. Hultgren Construction knowingly permitted employees to engage in demolition activities without sufficient training to ensure that a licensed engineering professional first prepared an engineermg analysis to assess the structural stability of the budding, including the planned temporary shoring systems. DENNIS R. HOLMES Acting United States Attorney Date I I Jem As