ConDig (15-Oct-18). The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has fined a Florida-based roofing contractor $134,510 for fall hazards after an employee suffered fatal injuries on a construction project in Maitland.

OSHA said inspectors determined that the employee was performing residential roofing activities without fall protection when he fell. The agency cited the company for failing to provide fall protection training to employees and conduct frequent inspections to ensure employees were utilizing fall protection.

“Workers can be protected from falls by the use of harnesses and other fall protection devices,” said OSHA Tampa area office director Les Grove.

“This tragedy could have been prevented if the employer had complied with OSHA’s fall protection standards.”

Earlier this month, OSHA fined a Harmony, Pennsylvania-based contractor $331,101 after an employee was fatally electrocuted on a construction project in Johnstown, Pennsylvania.

and Health Review Commission.

Last month, OSHA fined a Connecticut-based L.L.E. Construction LLC $146,554 for exposing workers to fall hazards. It also fined five construction companies a total of $86,658 following a pedestrian bridge collapse in Florida in March that resulted in the death of one employee and serious injuries to five others.

A 2016 Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released in December showed that the rate of fatal injuries in the construction industry increased 6% in 2016 to 991 worker deaths compared with 937 in 2015.

BLS figures showed that falls, struck by objects, electrocutions and caught-in/between accounted for 63.7% of all construction worker deaths in last year. There was a rise in total construction worker deaths for each of the “Fatal Four” in 2016.