Dive Brief:
- The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited Illinois roofing contractor Apex Exteriors Inc. for one willful, one repeated and one serious safety violation for putting its workers at risk of falls. OSHA fined the company $57,950.
- In January, OSHA investigators found four Apex employees installing shingles without proper fall protection at a residential job site. Investigators said Apex exposed its workers to falls of more than 25 feet, did not follow fall anchor point installation requirements, and violated ladder safety regulations.
- The agency said it has cited Apex for fall violations seven times at various Illinois project sites since 2010.
Dive Insight:
"One false step can be debilitating or fatal to a worker without fall protection," Jake Scott, OSHA's area director in North Aurora, IL, said in a release. "OSHA's annual National Safety Stand-Down from May 2-6 is intended to help employers, unions and workers nationwide to re-commit to understand and using fall safety protection to avoid tragedy."
OSHA said that falls are responsible for 40% of construction worker deaths, and it actively promotes its fall protection campaign all year. OSHA standards dictate that that proper fall protection be used when individuals work 6 feet or higher above the next lower level.
OSHA recently cited a New Jersey "serial violator" Berlin Builders for fall protection violations and other hazards. According to OSHA, the company has only been in business a little more than a year but has been the subject of 23 OSHA investigations in Delaware, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, with suggested fines exceeding $600,000.
Another repeat violator that OSHA has its eye on is Wisconsin contractor Lunda Construction Co. The agency recently cited and fined Lunda $105,000 in connection with a forklift accident that killed one worker. OSHA said that now a total of three Lunda workers have been killed on the company’s highway projects and said it has issued the company several safety violations in association with nine different inspections.
