OSHA issues fall protection citations to two companies

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has issued citations to two companies again for failing to provide fall protection to workers on residential roofs, one of which is the result of a fatality.

On Friday OSHA announced $94,263 in fines to an Appleton, Wisconsin, contractor who allegedly 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.”

OSHA cited Lucio Perez Lopez — operating as Lopez Roofing — one repeat and one serious violation for exposing workers to falls and for failing to train them on how to use fall protection effectively. This was the fifth time OSHA discovered the company “flouting the law,” the agency said in a statement.

J&L Roofing Inc. in Pompano Beach, Florida, was cited for fall protection violations following a worker’s fatal fall in January, resulting in $74,751 in penalties, OSHA said Thursday. [ok]

In 2018, federal workplace safety investigators cited J&L for similar violations.

J&L was cited 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 citation for failing to report a work-related hospitalization within 24 hours and a fatality within eight hours as the law requires.

Both companies have 15 days to contest the citations.