Dive Brief:
- The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited Massachusetts roofing contractor Force Corp., which it called a "habitual workplace safety violator," with one willful violation for a lack of fall protection and four serious violations for other hazards. The agency fined the company $91,000.
- OSHA issued a willful citation based on the company's knowledge of fall hazards. The agency said that since 2013, it has cited Force for fall-related hazards at work sites in Bridgeport, CT, Hartford, CT, and in the Massachusetts towns of Everett and Needham.
- OSHA said that one of its inspectors was driving by a Force roofing job in Andover, MA, and saw three employees on a roof with no fall protection and exposed to falls of up to 18 feet. OSHA said Force also exposed workers to an electric shock hazard from a power tap not designed for a construction site.
Dive Insight:
"This was an imminent danger situation. These employees were one slip, trip or misstep away from a deadly or disabling fall. We began an inspection immediately," Anthony Covello, OSHA's area director for Middlesex and Essex counties, said in a statement.
2015 has seen no shortages in fall protection violation cases, the latest being an Illinois contractor fined $103,000 for one willful and seven serious safety violations on a worksite where workers were exposed to falls in excess of 17 feet while building scaffolds and 19 feet while constructing rafters. OSHA also recently fined a Georgia contractor $65,000 for not providing adequate fall protection to its employees, and other contractors in North Dakota, Wisconsin, New York and Arizona for similar violations, with some even resulting in worker deaths and injuries.
OSHA’s fall prevention campaign provides employers with critical information and educational materials, in English and Spanish, on fall protection standards and on how to prevent falls, provide the right equipment for workers and train employees to use that equipment correctly.
In August 2016, OSHA is expected to raise its fine levels approximately 80% to be in accord with the Consumer Price Index. This will be OSHA’s first fine increase since 1990.