OSHA Proposes $79,000 in Fines Against North Reading, Mass., Contractor for Fall Hazards
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Monday, May 4, 2009 |
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The
U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health
Administration (OSHA) has cited a North Reading, Mass., roofing
contractor for 16 alleged violations of safety and health standards.
Duval Roofing LLC faces a total of $79,000 in proposed fines for fall,
scaffold, ladder and other hazards identified at a residential
construction site located at 138 Pleasant St. in Woburn, Mass.
OSHA's
inspection found employees working on a two-story roof without fall
protection and accessing the roof and scaffolding on ladders that did
not extend at least three feet above the upper landing surface. As a
result, OSHA issued the company two willful citations, carrying $56,000
in proposed fines, for those conditions. OSHA defines a willful
violation as one committed with plain indifference to or intentional
disregard for employee safety and health.
"It takes only one
slip or misstep to turn a construction site into an accident scene,"
said Paul Mangiafico, OSHA's area director for Middlesex and Essex
counties. "That's why it is imperative that employers supply effective
fall protection where required so their workers are protected against
potentially deadly or disabling falls."
OSHA also issued the
company 14 serious citations, with $23,000 in fines, for a variety of
scaffold hazards involving improper construction, lack of fall
protection, lack of scaffold training, an overloaded scaffold and
locating a scaffold too close to an energized power line; fall hazards
from ladders not used at a proper angle, unsecured ladders, a defective
ladder and areas not kept clear around tops and bottoms of ladders; and
lack of head, eye and face protection for employees exposed to overhead
hazards.
OSHA issues serious citations when death or serious
physical harm is likely to result from hazards about which the employer
knew or should have known. Detailed information about fall hazards and
safeguards is available on OSHA's Web site at
www.osha.gov/SLTC/fallprotection/index.html.
Duval Roofing has
15 business days from receipt of the citations and proposed penalties
to comply, request and participate in an informal conference with the
OSHA area director or contest the citations and proposed penalties
before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review
Commission. The inspection was conducted by OSHA's Boston North Area
Office in Methuen; telephone 617-565-8110.
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