ConDig (17-Jun-24)  An Illinois contractor has been fined $264,407 for exposing workers to deadly fall hazards on a housing project in a Hanover Park subdivision.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) said workplace safety inspectors found Maestro Construction Inc — cited seven times since 2020 — again exposing employees doing framing work to the risk of deadly falls from elevation at two homes under construction in December 2023 and February 2024.

Inspectors observed employees of Maestro working at heights up to 20 feet without adequate fall protection. Inspectors reported that some workers put on fall protection safety gear but wore it incorrectly, making it useless. 

The agency also learned the Bolingbrook company failed to certify that employees had been trained in fall hazards or the required use of personal protective equipment. In addition, inspectors found damaged electrical cords in use.

“Contractors like Maestro Construction that willfully ignore federal safety standards for fall protection are endangering the lives and well-being of their employees,” said OSHA area director Jacob Scott in Naperville, Illinois. 

“Despite being cited seven times since 2020, this company continues to show a callous disregard for their employees’ safety, and we will continue to hold them accountable for their defiance of regulations.”

The agency cited Maestro Construction four times in 2023 for fall-related violations.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that in 2022, 1,056 construction workers died on the job, with 423 of those fatalities related to falls from elevation, slips or trips.

Last month, a Georgia construction contractor has been fined $46,550 after a 31-year-old steel erector fell to his death on a worksite in Arcadia.