ConDig (27-Aug-18).  The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has fined two  Colorado-based contractors $177,893 following a fatal fall at a project in Greenwood Village, Colorado.

Hammers Construction Inc and Montes Construction LLC were cited after an employee fell while installing metal roofing panels on a storage unit building.

OSHA said that the two construction companies failed to use adequate fall protection and restrict employees from standing on the mid-rails of scissor lifts.

The agency also cited Montes Construction LLC in January this year for failing to provide fall protection and now faces a willful citation.

“These employers failed to protect their employees from well-known and preventable fall hazards,” said OSHA area director David Nelson.

“This tragedy could have been prevented if they had met their obligations and provided the required fall protection.”

Hammers Construction Inc. and Montes Construction LLC have 15 business days from receipt of citations and penalties to comply, request an informal conference with OSHA’s area director or contest the findings.

Earlier this month, Florida-based contractor G&H Underground Construction was fined $57,738 by the OSHA after a worker sustained a serious injury on a construction site in St. Augustine.

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.