A Boston contractor had his day in court, but still ended up facing $91,200 in fines.

An administrative law judge has upheld eight citations issued by OSHA against Shawn Telsi, doing business as Life Time Homes, Green Pines and/or Telsi Builders, for excavation and other construction safety hazards.

During an August 2009 inspection of Telsi’s Newton, MA construction site, OSHA found a range of hazards. Employees worked in a 14-feet deep excavation without cave-in protection or a safe means of exit, and with piles of soil stored at its edge. Additionally, workers risked impalement upon unguarded steel rebar, falls into uncovered 7-foot-deep holes and injuries from lack of head protection.

According to an agency press release, OSHA cited Telsi in February 2010, and the company contested its citations and fines to the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission the following month. A hearing was held in Boston on Sept. 28, 2010, before Administrative Law Judge Covette Rooney. Rooney recently ruled, upholding the four willful and four serious citations, and the monetary penalties issued by OSHA.

"Serious, life-threatening hazards remained uncorrected even after they were brought to this employer's attention," said Marthe Kent, OSHA's New England regional administrator. "In one instance, had the unprotected 14-foot-high excavation wall collapsed, it would have engulfed workers who were pouring concrete formwork and crushed them beneath tons of concrete, soil and debris."