Fall Hazards Add Up to $49,000 in Fines for Nebraska Roofing Firm
OSHA's inspection of the company was initiated in April under a local emphasis program focused on fall hazards, following a referral alleging employees were exposed to fall hazards while installing a roof at a Hastings, Neb., job site.
OSHA has cited Juniata Roofing, Siding and Seamless Gutter in Juniata, Neb., for one repeat and five serious safety violations for exposing workers to fall hazards. Proposed penalties total $49,000.
OSHA's inspection of the company was initiated in April under a local emphasis program focused on fall hazards, following a referral alleging employees were exposed to fall hazards while installing a roof at a Hastings, Neb., job site.
"Falls are a leading cause of injury and death in the workplace. It is the employer's responsibility to provide a fall protection program that ensures employees are properly trained and equipped," said Charles E. Adkins, OSHA's regional administrator in Kansas City, Mo. "Employers must make safety priority number one and take all necessary steps to eliminate hazards from the workplace."
The repeat violation is similar to one cited in September 2009 for allowing employees to work on a scaffold at heights greater than 10 feet without fall protection.
Serious violations include the company's failure to properly retrain those employees exposed to scaffold hazards prior to allowing them to continue working on scaffolds; allowing employees to work at heights greater than 6 feet without fall protection; failing to properly retrain those employees exposed to fall hazards prior to allowing them to continue working at heights; allowing workers to use a stepladder in a manner for which it was not designed; and allowing workers to ascend a ladder without grasping the ladder with at least one hand.