Fall Injury Brings $51,200 in Fines
Two companies, a subcontractor and the general contractor on a New Hampshire job site, were fined after a worker tripped and fell 14 feet during the dismantling of a stairway.
OSHA has issued a total of $51,200 in fines along with citations to a subcontractor and the general contractor on a Nashua, N.H., job site after a worker tripped and fell 14 feet during the dismantling of a stairway. North Ridge Contracting Inc. and CMGC Building Corp., the general contractor, received the citations, the agency reported.
North Ridge Contracting of Deerfield, N.H., faces $44,000 in proposed fines from the July 27 incident at the Benchmark Electronics building. OSHA said its inspection found North Ridge workers lacked fall protection while dismantling the stairway, exposing them to falls of up to 40 feet. OSHA issued one willful citation with a proposed fine of $35,000 for the lack of fall protection, as well as three serious citations with $9,000 in proposed fines for failing to provide fall protection training to workers, a tripping hazard from unfilled metal pan stair treads and failing to provide a competent person to inspect the work area in order to identify and correct such hazards.
"This incident is a prime example of the consequences that occur when an employer fails to provide workers with effective and required fall protection," said Rosemarie Ohar, OSHA's area director for New Hampshire. "Proper safeguards would have prevented this fall and the injury that resulted."
Two serious citations with $7,200 in proposed fines allege that CMGC Building Corp. did not ensure fall protection was provided and did not fill in the stairway treads.
For more information on fall protection hazards and safeguards, visit http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/fallprotection/index.html.