According to OSHA, the Occupational Safety & Health Administration, accidental deaths on construction sites are most commonly caused by falls. More importantly, deaths from falls can be prevented with the proper training.

Unfortunately, Allied Brothers Construction, Inc. of Bloomfield, N.J., was cited in July for fall injuries at its Rockland County, N.Y., construction site with serious and repeat violations of workplace safety standards, causing OSHA to levy over $89,000 in proposed fines.

The reason for the large fine was clearly the result of Allied Brothers’ failure to correct safety issues after OSHA visited the work site earlier this year. At the Rockland site, OSHA found “hazards unacceptably similar to those cited during prior inspections at the employer's other sites.”

The hazards cited include:

• Workers atop roofs without safety equipment and exposed to falls of 13 feet while getting onto and off of the roofs
• Workers using company ladders while working on the roofs that did not meet height requirements
• Not providing the proper training to its employees that would enable them to recognize and avoid such fall hazards before allowing them atop the roofs

The proposed fine of $89,100 was broken down as follows:

• $79,200 for four repeat violations, including similar hazards at the company’s work sites in New Milford, Oradell, Patterson, Rutherford, and Upper Saddle River, NJ
• $9,900 in fines for violations regarding Allied Brothers’ failure to properly rig an arrest fall system, guard the belt and pulley on a compressor and providing a defective ladder to its employees

OSHA provides valuable information to companies in order to prevent unnecessary falls on work sites. OSHA takes seriously any willful violation of its safety rules as is evident from the citation levied against Allied Brothers Construction, Inc., and OSHA will penalize any company for repeat violations.