Dive Insight:
- The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited a Framingham, MA, roofing contractor for potentially exposing workers to deadly fall hazards and has fined the company $188,000.
- During a residential site inspection on a jobsite in Woburn, MA, OSHA found that AS General Construction Inc., put workers at risk of falls of more than 26 feet from an unguarded roof and a badly constructed and erected ladder-jack scaffold, as well as various other scaffold, personal protective equipment and general violations. OSHA issued the company two willful, seven repeat and seven serious safety citations.
- According to OSHA, AS has a history of OSHA violations, and several of the violations in Woburn were similar to those cited by OSHA between 2011 and 2015 at worksites in Dedham and Windham, NH. OSHA said these latest violations have led to AS being placed in the Severe Violators Enforcement Program.
Dive Insight:
The Severe Violators program focuses on employers who willfully or repeatedly put employees at risk. Under the program, OSHA may inspect any of the employer's facilities or jobsites if it has reasonable grounds to believe there are similar violations occurring.
"The danger to these employees was real and present and known to this employer. Not only did A S General Construction not provide required fall protection, it did not train the employees to work safely on scaffolds and had the workers climbing damaged and improperly set up ladders. The result was that these workers were steps or seconds away from deadly or disabling falls," Anthony Covello, OSHA’s area director for Essex and Middlesex counties, said in a statement.
The agency recently cited a New Jersey carpentry contractor for not providing adequate fall protection, including exposing workers to safety hazards such as improper use of a portable ladder and a lack of ladder safety training. The company was fined $54,000 and was also added to the Severe Violator Program for committing willful and repeated violations.
In August of this year, violators will face 80% increases or more in fines when OSHA raises its fine levels for the first time since 1990.
