ConDig (10-Aug-17). Residential and commercial roofing contractor Great White Construction Inc. is facing fines of more than $1.5 million by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) for fall hazards.
Based in Jacksonville, Florida, Great White Construction has been hit with 14 violations for failing to protect its workers from the risks of dangerous falls and other hazards at two St. Augustine work sites.
OSHA inspectors observed employees removing shingles and plywood sheeting from the roof of a multi-story residential structure in the city’s Crescent Beach area without the use of proper fall protection and although employees wore harnesses, they were not tied off to the rope grabs and roof anchors.
A second inspection was initiated as part of OSHA’s regional enforcement program after other Great White employees were found to be working under similar conditions at a nearby site.
OSHA said the company had an extensive history of violations and issued 11 separate willful citations for failing to protect employees from fall hazards and three repeat violations for failing to ensure employees used eye protection while operating nail guns and for ladders used to access roof sites, again exposing employees to fall hazards.
The agency has investigated Great White 12 times since 2012, and issued 22 citations related to improper fall protection, ladder safety, and eye protection.
“In the past five years, Great White Construction’s series of willful, serious, and repeat violations has demonstrated indifference towards the safety of their employees,” said OSHA regional administrator Kurt Petermeyer.
“The company allowed their employees to work without fall protection and made no reasonable effort to eliminate the hazard.”
The annual number of fall fatalities in construction increased by 36% from 269 to 367 between 2011 and 2015, exceeding the growth in employment and total fatalities in the industry, according to a report issued earlier this year by The Center for Construction Research and Training (CPWR).
More than half (55%) of fall fatalities in construction occurred at a height of 20 feet or less, with falls from roofs comprising one-third of fall deaths, followed by falls from ladders at 24%.
Roofers had the highest rate of fall fatalities in construction, but the number and rate of fatal falls in this occupation dropped in 2015.
Meanwhile, another report issued this week by CPWR found that more than 800 US construction workers died as the result of struck-by incidents from 2011 to 2015. The total was higher than any other industry.