Fall Hazards at Jobsite Lead to Fines for Massachusetts Contractor

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Fall Hazards at Norwich, Conn., Jobsite Lead to $117,000 in U.S. Labor Department OSHA Fines for Milford, Mass., Contractor

Alex General Construction twice previously cited in Rhode Island for similar hazards

HARTFORD, Conn. - A Milford, Mass.-based roofing contractor with a history of fall protection violations again has been cited by the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) for fall hazards, this time at a residential construction site in Norwich, Conn.

Alex General Construction Inc. was cited for 11 alleged repeat and serious violations of safety standards following OSHA's inspection of a worksite located at 29 School St. The inspection began Nov. 19, 2007, when an OSHA inspector observed Alex employees working without fall protection on a steep-pitched roof 24 feet above the ground.

"The sizable fines proposed in this case reflect both the seriousness and the recurrence of this potentially deadly and disabling hazard," said C. William Freeman III, OSHA's area director in Hartford. "This employer's repeated failure to ensure a basic safeguard leaves employees exposed to falls, the number one killer in construction work."

OSHA has issued the company four repeat citations, carrying $85,000 in proposed penalties, for lack of fall protection and inadequate fall protection training for employees working on a 24-foot-high roof, extension ladders that did not extend at least 3 feet above their landing surface and placement of an aluminum extension ladder within 18 inches of an energized power cable. OSHA had cited Alex Construction in July and September 2006 for similar hazards at worksites in Providence and Johnston, R.I.

For the rest of this article please visit www.osha.gov.