Contractor facing more than $414,000 in fines over fall protection violations

Proposing $363,890 in new penalties for a Middlefield, Ohio, contractor, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has placed C.R.H. Roofing LLC into its Severe Violator Enforcement Program after more than three years of failed inspections and unpaid fines, the agency announced Wednesday.

Twice in six days in June 2022, federal safety inspectors observed workers exposed to deadly fall hazards at two separate job sites, “continuing a pattern of disregard for workplace safety dating back to 2019,” OSHA said.

The agency identified four willful and two repeat violations during inspections. With these additional penalties, the company now owes more than $414,000 in OSHA fines for its workplace safety failures.

At both worksites, inspectors observed roofing workers at heights greater than 6 feet without fall protection and lacking eye protection while using pneumatic nail guns. The company also allowed ladders to be used improperly. 

After three previous inspections in 2019 and 2021, OSHA assessed C.R.H. more than $51,000 in penalties, which remain unpaid.

“Despite being warned on June 3, 2022, that their failures to protect workers from falls violated federal law, C.R.H. Roofing scoffed at OSHA inspectors, and six days later, we found them committing the same violations,” Ohio-based OSHA Area Director Howard Eberts said in a statement. 

The company has 15 days to contest.