Construction Co. Cited for Lack of Safety Program, 15 Other Violations
OSHA is proposing $146,000 in penalties against T&C Construction in Hoover, Ala., for safety violations. The inspection was initiated based on a Regional Emphasis Program on falls when an OSHA compliance officer observed that employees laying brick on a residential house were exposed to a fall hazard.
T&C is being cited with 11 repeat violations with proposed penalties of $131,200. The violations include the company's lack of a safety program; employees not wearing personal protective equipment; an extension cord made with parts for permanent installation being on the ground; employees using electrical branch circuits that did not have a ground-fault circuit interrupter; several deficiencies in scaffolding procedures; and the employer's failure to develop, implement, or maintain a written hazard communications program for employees working with mortar or cement.
The employer also is being cited with five serious safety violations and $14,800 in proposed penalties. These violations include having no guards on the gear or pulleys on the mixing machine, using an extension cord that had the grounding prong removed, having scaffold planking that was not designed by a qualified person and damaged planking that was not replaced or removed, having no guardrails installed on a ramp being used, and using fabricated scaffold frames that were not joined together with coupling or stacking pins.
T&C has 15 business days from the receipt of the citations to contest the violations and proposed penalties before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission. The site was inspected by staff from OSHA's Area Office in Birmingham, Ala.