Dive Brief:

• The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has fined Kinzers, PA, contractor Rockvale Construction $61,600 for a third instance of serious worksite hazards at a multifamily housing project in Temple, PA.

• OSHA cited Rockvale with two willful violations for its "failure to properly attach the forklift platform to the forks of the forklift and ensure employees were protected from fall hazards while working from the forklift platform and the roof."

• According to OSHA, this is the third time since 2013 the agency has cited Rockvale Construction for exposing employees to serious fall hazards in Temple.

Dive Insight:

OSHA has also placed Rockvale into its Severe Violator Enforcement Program, which mandates follow-up inspections.

"Despite previous citations, this company continues to disregard the safety standards in place to protect workers from falls, which are the leading cause of death in the construction industry," said Kevin Kilp, OSHA's area director in Harrisburg.

Falls are the leading cause of fatalities in construction and consistently top OSHA’s Top 10 job site violations.

OSHA recently fined a North Dakota contractor for three willful safety violations in connection with a worker fall from a forklift platform, resulting in serious injury. The agency also fined Texas contractors $47,000 for failing to provide adequate protection after a worker died in a fall from a forklift.

This week, a "little-noticed" provision in the budget bill signed by President Obama raised federal OSHA fines for workplace safety violations for the first time in 25 years. The measure — which brings penalties in line with inflation increases since 1990 — also requires future OSHA and state agency penalty hikes to continue to rise with inflation.

That fine increase would have a huge impact on the construction industry, as construction fatalities accounted for 20.6% of all total private industry fatalities last year, according to the BLS.