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Contractor cited $300K after fall, death of laborer

Posted On: Jun. 21, 2021 2:08 PM CST

contractor

A Bronx, New York-based contractor has been cited more than $300,000 by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration for alleged safety violations after a 21-year-old laborer fell 50 feet while installing a scaffold on a construction project.

On Nov. 13, 2020, the fall arrest harness of a man working for Everest Scaffolding Inc. on a Brooklyn, New York, job site was not tethered as required while he worked on a seven-story building, according to OSHA.

The agency proposed penalties of $300,370 against Everest for alleged willful and serious safety violations. OSHA investigators claimed that Everest failed to evaluate the feasibility of fall protection during the erection of the scaffold, failed to properly train employees on fall hazards, failed to inspect fall arrest systems and failed to determine if the anchors for the workers’ personal fall arrest systems could support at least 5,000 pounds.

Everest has contested the allegations and penalties, which will be reviewed by the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.