Dive Brief:
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The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has affirmed $344,960 in fines previously issued to Lansdowne, PA-based masonry contractor J.C. Stucco and Stone for continuing to expose workers to scaffolding hazards.
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The company previously accepted six willful and three repeat citations issued over the course of two inspections in 2014 related to this latest fine.
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OSHA has cited the company 41 times since 2011 for leaving its workers vulnerable to scaffold hazards that could lead to life-threatening falls. In 2011, the company was placed in OSHA’s Severe Violator Enforcement Program due to repeat serious violations.
Dive Insight:
The affirmation of the fine issued to J.C. Stucco and Stone comes as the agency ramps up its clampdown on fall-protection violations in the construction industry.
Falls continue to be the leading cause of work-related deaths in construction, with OSHA reporting that fall hazards topped the list of workplace safety violations in 2016 with 6,929 violations. It was followed by hazard communication, scaffold-specific violations, respiratory protection and lockout/tagout in the top five spots.
The high fines aren't uncommon. Earlier this month, the agency fined Ohio-based A&W Roofing $307,824 for three willful and two serious safety violations for working without fall protection on a residential job site in Pittsburgh.
OSHA has implemented other measures whose impacts include encouraging site managers to strengthen efforts around fall protection. In July, the agency announced a 78% increase in existing maximum civil penalties across the board to comply with a federally mandated rate rise.
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