NEW ORLEANS — The federal workplace safety agency, OSHA, is refusing to cooperate with a grand jury probe of the deadly 2019 Hard Rock Hotel collapse until it resolves a long-delayed civil dispute with the building’s lead engineer, a target of that criminal investigation.
Orleans Parish District Attorney Jason Williams subpoenaed OSHA’s Hard Rock investigation file more than two years ago.
Williams said the federal agency’s refusal to produce the records as ordered by a judge now seriously hampers the criminal negligence case his prosecutors are presenting to the grand jury, with just two weeks left for it to return an indictment before a four-year deadline.
Williams said the lack of cooperation from OSHA is forcing him and his prosecutors to “fight with one hand tied behind our backs” as they present their case to the grand jury.
“It’s akin to enabling or covering up criminal activity because the clock is ticking. We only have a few more days before the clock runs out on this,” Williams said in an exclusive interview with WWL-TV. “If you had told me this would happen, I would tell you that you're a liar.”
Oct. 12 marks four years since the upper floors of the Hard Rock pancaked, crushing three construction workers to death, injuring more than a dozen others, damaging surrounding properties and shutting down a major downtown intersection for more than a year.
OSHA spokeswoman Kimberly Darby told WWL-TV the agency “has not yet produced its investigation report due to ongoing litigation, as Heaslip Engineering is contesting its citations.”
In May 2020, OSHA fined Heaslip Engineering $154,000 for “willful” and “serious” safety violations for “inadequately designed … steel connections” and “design flaws” on the 16th, 17th and 18th floors, the top three stories of the high-rise.
Heaslip owner and engineer of record James Heaslip has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and contested the OSHA violations in 2020. He was able to postpone several hearings in front of the Occupational Health & Safety Review Commission before agreeing in May to enter final settlement negotiations.
In October 2021, WWL-TV reviewed a copy of a secret OSHA engineer’s report that blamed Heaslip for what it called “grossly underdesigned” steel beams used to support the top three floors of the building. It said 81 of those beams were too small to support the load on the floors above, where heavy concrete had been poured and temporary supports were seen bending under the pressure just days before the disaster. The OSHA report said the collapse was “waiting to happen.”
This week, a final settlement conference between Heaslip and OSHA was held at the U.S. Customs House in New Orleans. Heaslip declined to comment to WWL-TV as he entered the building to start those negotiations Wednesday, and his attorney did not respond Friday when asked about the result of those talks.
Neither did OSHA. The agency’s website on Friday afternoon still showed the violations against Heaslip as “contested,” with no final order issued.
Even if Heaslip and OSHA settle their administrative dispute before the grand jury’s deadline, there’s still another obstacle for Williams’ office: A federal government shutdown, likely to begin Sunday, could prevent OSHA from completing and sending the investigation report in time for the grand jury to consider it.
The grand jury hears evidence in secret. At least nine grand jurors would need to vote for a “true bill” before Oct. 12 for anyone to be indicted for causing the catastrophe.
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