PA Framing Contractor Cited for Failing to Provide Fall Protection, Issued $269K In Proposed Penalties

PA Framing Contractor Cited for Failing to Provide Fall Protection, Issued $269K In Proposed Penalties

The company has been inspected eight other times since 2021.

  • By Alex Saurman
  • Nov 02, 2022

One contractor with a history of inspections has been cited for not following fall protection regulations after a recent inspection.

OSHA inspected Philadelphia framing contractor Max Contractors Inc. in April 2022 and found workers exposed to fall hazards, some exposed to 22-foot falls, according to a news release. The workers were allegedly on the second and third levels of a residential structure without fall protection. In the construction industry, OSHA requires workers to have fall protection when they are six feet from a lower level.

For the lack of fall protection, along with not giving workers who operated “air-powered nail guns” correct eyewear, not training workers and not ensuring correct ladder usage, Max Contractors Inc received citations for three serious and six repeat violations and proposed penalties of $269,594, according to the news release.

The company has been inspected eight other times since 2021, garnering five willful and 21 serious violations.

“Max Contractors’ repeated and blatant disregard for its employees’ safety and well-being will not be tolerated,” said Philadelphia OSHA Area Director Theresa Downs in the news release. “Falls can cause serious, potentially debilitating injuries and death. OSHA will hold employers like Max Contractors Inc. accountable until they meet their legal obligation to respect workers’ rights to a safe workplace.”

Falls are known to cause worker deaths in the construction industry. In 2020, 351 people died from falls to a lower level, according to OSHA. That’s more than 33 percent of all construction deaths that year.

For the 12th year in a row, citations for fall protection ranked first among all the OSHA violations. In 2022, according to preliminary data, OSHA issued 5,260 violations of the general requirements standard (29CFR 1926.501). To learn more about preventing falls, read OSHA’s Fall Prevention Campaign.

About the Author

Alex Saurman is a former Content Editor for Occupational Health & Safety,who has since joined OH&S’s client services team. She continues to work closely with OH&S’s editorial team and contributes to the magazine.

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