Fall Protection Training Lacking Leading to Citations

On November 4, 2016, the United States Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has issued citations to Ohio-based Roofing company, A&W Roofing, for multiple fall protection training related violations found at a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania facility. The citations included (3) willful and (2) serious violations. The proposed penalty for these violations is, $307,824.

OSHA initiated an inspection on May 13, 2016, following an anonymous complaint that company employees were not utilizing fall protection. A&W Roofing was cited in 2014, 2015, and 2016 for similar offenses, which caused increases in fines. The inspection was part of the agency’s local emphasis program focused on fall hazards in the construction industry.

Among others, OSHA determined that the following violations were existent:

• Failure to provide adequate fall protection to employees working 35 to 40 feet above the ground
• Failure to mandate that ground workers wear hardhats
• Failure to properly install extended ladders
• Failure to implement a fall protection training and education program

OSHA Pittsburgh area director, Christopher Robinson, said, “A&W Roofing continues to disregard OSHA standards intended to prevent injuries and save lives in the high-hazard construction industry. This is the fifth time in two years this company has been cited and penalized by OSHA for exposing workers to fall hazards. A&W Roofing’s blatant disregard for worker safety is intolerable and completely unacceptable.”

Among the various workplace safety violations, those related to falls or inadequate programming or protection are some of the most common. Many of the violations related to fall hazards and fall protection training are easily remedied. One resource that may be useful to safety leaders and employers in the general or construction industries is an OSHA-authorized training course or on-site inspection. More often than not, most fall hazards or safety non-compliance violations are simply the result of a lack of adequate training or precaution. Our OSHA-Authorized 30 Hour Construction Training Online enables supervisors and managers to learn how to manage safety risks on job sites and how to help employees to be safer in their day to day work.