Dive Brief:

• The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has issued a fine of $214,782, along with four willful and two serious safety violations, to Belleville, IL-based roofing contractor Barringer Brothers Roofing after finding that it exposed workers to fall hazards at a residential job site in Troy, IL.

• Inspectors said workers were operating at heights above six feet without adequate fall protection. They also noted violations including a lack of eye protection while using nail guns and failure to implement a safety program.

• The company has a history of safety violations and, as such, has been placed in OSHA’s Severe Violator Enforcement Program.

Dive Insight:

OSHA reported in May that approximately 520 companies had been added to its Severe Violator Enforcement Program from 2010 to mid-April 2016, of which 60% are in the construction industry.

The agency has stepped up its crackdown on fall hazards and recently issued a number of fines for fall-related breaches, including a $112,487 fine last month to NJ-based roofing company  Hackensack Roofing Co. Inc. for one serious and three repeat safety violations for fall-related hazards. This followed a $87,794 fine issued to Plymouth Meeting, PA-based Real Contractors LLC for four repeat and two serious violations, which included falls. Burbank, IL-based contractor JW Construction & Plastering Inc. was fined $80,741 for failing to provide adequate fall protection and protective equipment.

Nearly 7,000 fall-protection violations were reported last year, according to OSHA, the most of any workplace safety violation for the period. Previous reports from the agency have found fall hazards to be the most common OSHA violation in construction and the leading cause of death on the job site.

OSHA has enacted other measures aimed at improving workplace safety and this summer raised the maximum civil penalty payout by 78% to comply with a federally mandated rate rise.

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