Dive Brief:
- The Occupational and Health Administration cited two Texas contractors — Jose Miguel Charles, doing business as Pirul Trim Service, and Blazer Building, Inc. — with failing to provide adequate protection for a worker who died in a fall at an apartment complex project in New Braunfels, TX.
- On March 31, worker Victor Echartea-Medina was unloading buckets of paint onto the fourth floor of the building while standing on a platform at the end of a large forklift. Echartea-Medina fell from the forklift and died at the hospital, according to KXAN News.
- OSHA cited the two contractors with multiple violations, including failing to provide fall protection and failing to train workers on forklifts. Charles and Blazer were fined $38,800 and $8,400, respectively.
Dive Insight:
OSHA reports that falls are the leading cause of fatalities in construction, making up about one-third of all fatalities in the industry. Fall protection violations once again topped OSHA’s Top 10 job site violations for 2015.
"This man’s death was heartbreaking — and totally avoidable. Falls are preventable yet they continue to be the leading killer of workers at construction sites," said Casey Perkins, OSHA’s area director in Austin. "General contractors and subcontractors must provide safe, sturdy and approved access for employees working so high above the ground."
This is the latest OSHA enforcement action by the agency, and it comes in the wake of its criminal investigation into the 2012 fall of a worker on a California job site and a $151,000 fine levied against two Montana companies for cave-in hazard violations.
