ConDig (28-Mar-18).  A Milford, Massachusetts-based roofing contractor has been fined by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) for fall violations on a site in Nashua, New Hampshire.

Guallpa Contracting Corp is facing fines of $299,324 after OSHA inspectors observed six of Guallpa’s employees working on a roof without fall protection. They also reported workers using ladders unsafely and failing to use head protection.

The Agency cited the contractor for exposing employees to fall hazards of up to 25 feet, ladder and head protection violations and for failing to provide effective training.

OSHA cited Guallpa for similar hazards in 2014 and 2015.

“Fall protection is required when employees are working at heights of six 6 feet or higher,” said Rosemarie Cole, OSHA New Hampshire area office director.

“This employer’s continued failure to follow safety standards is placing employees at risk of serious injury or death.”

It comes as OSHA cited a Marietta, Georgia-based independent roofing contractor earlier this week for fall violations on a site in Birmingham, Alabama.

Jose A. Serrato, who has been cited seven times in the past five years, is facing fines of $133,604 in proposed penalties.

Meanwhile, OSHA also cited Tower King II Inc after three employees suffered fatal injuries while attempting to install a new antenna on a communications tower in Miami.

The Texas-based tower contractor was issued one serious citation for exposing employees to fall and struck-by hazards.

The company faces $12,934 in proposed penalties, the maximum allowed under law.

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.