Pompano Beach Contractor’s Failure To Heed Prior Violation Left Roofing Workers Unprotected, Investigation Into Employee’s 25-Foot Fatal Fall Finds
In 2018, federal workplace safety investigators cited a Pompano Beach roofing contractor who exposed its workers to the construction industry’s most lethal hazard, falls from elevation. The US Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration determined that the company’s failure to heed that warning claimed the life of a 25-year-old worker in February 2022.
An OSHA investigation after the incident found that J & L Roofing Inc. allowed employees to tear off an existing roof without fall protection at a two-story residence in Davie. The worker fell from the roof onto a lower level and then to the ground. The incident occurred on Jan. 19, 2022, and the worker succumbed to his injuries after 29 days in a hospital.
OSHA cited the company for one willful violation for exposing workers engaged in roofing activities to fall hazards without protection, and one serious violation for failing to train workers on the correct use of fall arrest systems. The agency also issued an other-than-serious violation for failing to report a work-related hospitalization within 24-hours and a fatality within 8 hours as the law requires.
The agency has proposed US$74,751 in penalties.
“Had J & L Roofing Inc. ensured that its workers were protected from the construction industry’s leading cause of death, a young man’s life could have been spared,” said OSHA Area Office Director Condell Eastmond in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. “Instead, a family and a community are left to grieve and an employer is learning a painful lesson that federal workplace safety standards exist to help prevent needless and unnecessary tragedies.”
In 2018, OSHA issued a citation to J & L Roofing Inc. for its failure to ensure the use of fall protection at a Tamarac worksite.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that falls remain the leading cause of death in the construction industry, accounting for 368 fatalities in 2020, of which 39 happened in Florida. They account for about one in every three workplace fatalities.
The company has 15 business days from receipt of their citations and penalties to comply, request an informal conference with OSHA, or contest the findings before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.
Despite the potentially deadly consequences of its actions, an Appleton contractor allowed three roofers to work at heights up to 18 feet without anchoring their fall protection, making it useless in preventing serious or fatal injuries.
A US Department of Labour Occupational Safety and Health Administration inspector observed the unsafe conditions on May 11, 2022, as the workers removed materials from a residential roof in Sheboygan.
Pyrotechnics Industry Safety
OSHA has cited their employer, Lucio Perez Lopez – operating as Lopez Roofing – for exposing workers to falls and for failing to train them on how to use fall protection effectively. The agency issued one repeat and one serious violation, and proposed penalties of US$94,263. OSHA cited Lopez Roofing for similar violations twice between 2014 and 2017, making this the fifth time the agency has discovered the company flouting the law.
“If a fall arrest system is not worn and anchored properly, there is nothing to stop a worker from possibly becoming a statistic, as falls from elevations remain one of the leading causes of death in the construction industry,” said OSHA Area Director Robert Bonack in Appleton, Wisconsin. “Assigning workers to perform dangerous tasks without training them on how to protect themselves is inexcusable. OSHA will hold employers accountable when they fail to meet their legal requirements to provide safe working conditions.”
The Bureau of Labuor Statistics reports that 1,008 construction workers died on the job in 2020, with 351 of those fatalities related to falls from elevation.
OSHA’s stop falls website offers safety information and video presentations in English and Spanish to teach workers about hazards and proper safety procedures.
The company has 15 business days from receipt of its citations and penalties to comply, request an informal conference with OSHA’s area director, or contest the findings before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.
