Rules + Regs

Oregon OSHA fines contractor $105,800 for alleged fall hazards

Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Division has fined JMJ Construction LLC, Canby, Ore., $105,800 for allegedly allowing three employees to work at heights without fall protection at a Hillsboro, Ore., job site. The company is not an NRCA member.

The job-site inspection was conducted under Oregon OSHA’s emphasis program on fall hazards in construction. The prevention-based program includes direction to inspectors to act based on observations while in the field.

The inspection identified three violations, one of which involved JMJ Construction allowing three employees to work at heights without any type of fall-protection system, exposing them to an 18-foot fall to a lower level. JMJ Construction was performing roofing work on a commercial building as a subcontractor.

It was the fourth time since February 2020 the company violated a fall-protection rule. Because of the repeat offenses, the penalty for the violation multiplied. JMJ Construction has filed an appeal.

“There is simply no good reason to assign employees to work at heights without adequate protective systems,” says Renee Stapleton, administrator for Oregon OSHA. “Employees have a right to work safely. Employers that repeatedly fail to make that right a reality are only increasing the risk of serious injuries and lost lives.”

Contractor faces $678,536 in fines after ignoring fall-protection requirement

Six months after an employee’s fatal fall, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration found ALJ Home Improvement Inc., Nanuet, N.Y., again exposing employees to potentially deadly harm. The company is not an NRCA member.

Two roofing workers suffered preventable fatal workplace falls in February 2019 and February 2022. Seven federal workplace safety inspections during the past four years identified 33 violations—nine of them willful failures to provide required fall protection.

An OSHA inspector at a Ho-Ho-Kus, N.J., job site in August 2022 observed three employees on a roof 18 feet above ground without required fall protection. ALJ Home Improvement was contracted to remove an existing roof and reinstall shingles on a single-family residence.

OSHA cited the company with four willful violations and four serious violations and proposed a $687,536 penalty for lack of fall and head protection and violations of multiple standards.

Florida contractor faces fines after 15-year-old worker falls

JGN Services LLC, Lake Mary, Fla., faces fines and citations for three serious alleged violations after a 15-year-old worker fell about 20 feet from the roof of a two-story home in Orlando, Fla., according to Bloomberg Law. The company is not an NRCA member.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration found the roofing company failed to ensure the use of required fall protection, which led to the 15-year-old suffering severe head and spinal injuries and spending six days in a hospital after the February 2022 incident.

The Department of Labor issued $8,702 in penalties for three serious citations for safety violations, and a Wage and Hour Division investigation led to a $55,841 civil penalty under the Child Labor Enhanced Penalty Program.

The Wage and Hour Division also found JGN Services committed minimum wage and overtime violations under the Fair Labor Standards Act by not paying employees overtime rates for hours logged beyond 40 hours in a workweek and misclassifying some workers as independent contractors.

The investigation recovered $106,600 in back wages and liquidated damages for 18 workers.