Thousands of construction workers ‘falsely’ certified by safety school

A labourer works a job on the Brooklyn Bridge in New York, US. (Image: Adobe Stock)

According to the charges, the company claimed it trained approximately 20,000 construction workers between December 2019 and April 2023. Valor said certificate holders received 40 hours of instruction and were trained on all aspects of construction safety inspection, planning, and security services.

Instead, the DA’s office alleged, the six Valor personnel and an additional 19 individuals (including a New York City Housing Authority foreman and two master plumbers) brokered deals with certification seekers to circumvent the education by paying a fee, instead.

“The defendants issued cards for a fee certifying the required 40 hours of safety training… without providing training,” explained a statement from the DA’s office. “Valor charged anywhere from US$300 to $600 per filing for a basic safety training card.”

Certificate seekers, essentially, paid for fake licenses, claimed the DA.

Valor’s more than one dozen alleged cohorts worked across several segments and businesses including Flow Right Pluming & Heating Corp., KCM Plumbing & Heating Co., DeMar Plumbing Corp., Alpha Construction Services, and the New York City Housing Authority (a public development corporation). They’ve been charged with ‘Criminal Possession of a Forged Instrument in the Second Degree’ and ‘Offering a False Instrument for Filing in the First Degree’.

Four individuals and Valor have also been charged with ‘recklessly endangering’ Frias (in the second degree), who fell from the 15th floor of a New York construction site and died in 2022. The DA’s release said Valor failed to ‘provide him necessary training.’

Falsifying safety credentials

Citing the evidence against the colluding parties, the DA’s office noted e-mail exchanges wherein individuals were encouraged to falsify safety credentials.

“‘Whoever doesn’t [have a license] have OSHA make one up,’” the DA’s office alleged Valor president Alexander Shaporov wrote, referring to the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

Ostensibly, Valor also fabricated where the trainings took place with claims that classes were conducted in three different states.

“Valor filed fraudulent documents with [the New York Department of Buildings] and OSHA claiming that its trainers had taught safety classes in Brooklyn when the purported trainers were in Florida, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, or Staten Island,” continued the DA’s office.

“In some instances, Valor claimed its trainers conducted trainings in three different states – New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania – or five different sites on the same day.”

To unveil the plot, the DA’s office said undercover investigators purchased 40-hour safety certificates from Valor without taking training classes. According to the DA’s office, the investigators received their certifications within an hour.

“In the construction industry, fraud can mean life or death – not only for the individuals working on the site, but for the general public that moves around them every single day,” said New York County District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

“We allege… that the death of one recipient, Ivan Frias, may have been prevented if not for the defendants’ reckless failure to train him. With our partners at DOI [New York Department of Investigation] and DOB, we are determined to root out fraud, especially when it puts New Yorkers at risk. We will not let harm come to workers because companies want to turn a quick profit.”

All parties are innocent until proven guilty.