Repeat violations common in latest round of heavy OSHA fines

An Ohio contractor and a Georgia recycling facility face fines of more than $100,000 each for repeatedly exposing workers to deadly hazards, according to statements issued Thursday by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

Inspectors issued JMH Roofing LLC of Millersburg, Ohio, six citations, with proposed fines totaling $136,453, for repeatedly exposing residential construction roofers to deadly fall hazards for the sixth time in three years.

On April 28, following four years of inspections and past fines totaling $137,441, OSHA inspectors observed roofers employed by JMH working up to 24 feet off the ground without protection.

Following up on a safety inspection at a recycling facility in Greenville, Georgia, where a welder died in 2019, OSHA inspectors found that TAV Holdings Inc. continued to put workers at risk.

TAV Holdings Inc. faces $112,212 in proposed fines for failing to ensure workers completed training before operating telescoping forklifts and failed to examine the forklifts before placing them in service. OSHA cited the company for similar violations in 2019 after a forklift struck an unsupported beam that fell and killed the welder.

The companies cited could not immediately be reached for comment.