ConDig (13-Jun-18).  A Wisconsin-based roofing contractor is facing a $120,320 fine by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) for exposing workers to falls and other safety hazards at two Wisconsin construction sites.

The agency said that Hector Hernandez, who operates Appleton-based Town City Construction, was cited for one repeated and two willful violations for failing to provide fall protection, train workers on fall hazards, properly install an extension ladder for safe egress and provide required ladder jack scaffold components.

“Employers are required to provide fall protection to employees working in construction at heights above 6 feet,” said Robert Bonack, OSHA Appleton area office director.

“This employer’s repeated failure to comply with federal safety requirements exposes employees to fatal injuries from fall hazards.”

Hernandez has 15 business days from receipt of his citations and penalties to comply, request an informal conference with OSHA’s area director, or contest the findings.

Last month, a Florida-based underground utility construction company was hit with a $138,927 fine by OSHA for exposing employees to cave-in hazards.

P&S Paving Inc, based in Daytona Beach, was cited after OSHA said it had allowed employees to work in a trench without cave-in protection.

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.