Dive Brief:
- The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has fined Florida contractor Payton Roofing Inc. $53,900 and issued the company citations for fall protection violations.
- OSHA said Payton employees were working up to 18 feet in the air at two sites on a residential apartment complex project without training in fall protection safety. The agency also said Payton exposed employees to 12-foot falls by allowing them to work near unguarded holes in the floor and to share an anchorage system meant for only one person.
- OSHA cited Payton for three repeated and four serious safety violations and said it also investigated, cited and fined the company in 2015 for similar violations.
Dive Insight:
Payton was cited for "easily correctable" fall protection violations, according to Condell Eastmond, OSHA's Fort Lauderdale area director. "Falls are a leading cause of death in the construction industry, and OSHA is committed to doing what it can to ensure all workers are protected," Eastmond said in a press release.
Tim Payton, the roofing company's operator, told the Miami Herald that he intends to contest the allegations and said he had pictures of his employees using safety equipment. OSHA sent Payton's unpaid fines from the previous violation to a collection agency, but Payton said he refuses pay it because he "didn't do anything wrong."
The latest jobsite investigations into Payton, the agency said, were part of OSHA’s Regional Emphasis Program on Falls in Construction. Its announcement of Payton's violations and fine comes only a few weeks after the National Fall Prevention Stand-Down, which encouraged employers to review fall protection safety standards with their employees.