Safety Harnesses Failure at Roofing Company Garners Big Fine

The United States Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has issued citations to Rhode Island-based roofing company, M&M Roofing, for various violations, related to slipping and falling hazards. OSHA conducted an inspection of an M&M worksite, located at, 55 Rodgers Lane, on May 6^th, 2016, and found that several employees were not employing their safety harnesses. Upon re-inspection, on May 12, 2016, workers were found to be wearing their safety harnesses but those harnesses were not connected to their respective anchors. The citations processed to M&M Roofing carried (1) willful, (3) repeat, and (2) serious violations. The proposed fines for these violations was, $185,194.

OSHA found that the following offenses existed at the worksite:

• Lack of appropriate fall protection
• Lack of appropriate fall hazard training program
• Ladders did not extend at least three feet above next level for required stability
• Several unguarded open holes in roofing
• Inadequate ladder safety training program
• Lack of eye/face protection for those employees working with pneumatic equipment

OSHA Rhode Island area director, Patrick Griffin, said, “This employer exposed its employees deliberately to potentially deadly or disabling falls on multiple occasions, and has a history of fall-related violations at job sites in Connecticut. This is unacceptable. Falls are the leading cause of death in construction work. That won’t change unless employers take seriously their responsibility to provide safe working conditions for their employees.”

Fall and slip hazards are among the most common accidents and injuries in the construction workplace. In 2014, there were 345 fatal falls to a lower level out of 899 total fatalities in construction, nationally. One way to reduce the incidence or a repeat of these types of injuries is to schedule an OSHA-approved training course. Those safety leaders tasked with OSHA compliance would be well-served utilizing such a training course as a resource.