ConDig (21-June-21).  The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has fined a Bronx-based scaffolding company $300,370 after a 21-year-old laborer fell to his death during construction of a seven-story building in Brooklyn, New York.

The agency said that Everest Scaffolding Inc failed to evaluate the feasibility of using fall protection and failed to use feasible fall protection during the erection of a supported scaffold. 

It also reported that the company did not properly train employees on fall hazards associated with scaffold work, failed to inspect fall arrest systems before use and did not determine if the anchorage for employees’ personal fall arrest systems could support at least 5,000 pounds.

“This tragedy could have been prevented if Everest Scaffolding had provided appropriate training on fall hazards and ensured workers were using fall protection correctly,” said OSHA area director Kay Gee in Manhattan.

Last month, OSHA fined two Michigan-based contractors after a demolition collapse of a power plant killed two workers.

OSHA fined a Florida-based framing and sheathing contractor $61,575 in April for repeat fall violations on a project in the Jacksonville area.

In March, OSHA fined a Cleveland-based contractor $73,533 after a 14-year-old boy working on a roof without required fall protection suffered critical injuries when he fell 20-feet to the ground.

In February, OSHA fined a Missouri-based plumbing contractor $299,590 for two repeated violations of trenching standards.