The life of a 53-year-old roofer who passed away in the wake of dropping 40 feet to the ground could have been 
spared if his manager had given appropriate fall insurance, OSHA has found.
OSHA referred to R&B Contractors, LLC, of Shandon for one willful, 11 serious and three other-than-serious safety citations on February 9, after the office’s examination concerning the man’s demise at a business building site in Cincinnati on August 10, 2015.
“Four of 10 fatalities in the construction business in 2014 were the consequence of a fatal fall,” said Ken Montgomery, OSHA’s territory chief in Cincinnati. “Falls are a main source of death for development specialists and can be averted with legitimate fall protection. Yet another worker has perished unnecessarily in light of the fact that management neglected to ensure wellbeing of their employees. This must stop.”
OSHA investigators found the employee was installing a new business rooftop when he fell. No guardrails, safety nets or personnel fall preventive measures were set up at the time. Furthermore, OSHA defined that R&B neglected to:
- Train specialists about fall hazards
- Cultivate a security and wellbeing program
- Assign a security screen
- Train controlled modern vehicle operators
- Record injuries and illnesses
- R&B faces proposed fines of $116,900.
To acquaint construction businesses and workers with the risks, OSHA offers a Stop Falls online resource with point by point data in English and Spanish on fall protection standards. The site gives fact sheets, publications, and recordings on different fall dangers and proper preventive measures. OSHA obliges companies to give persuasive fall assurance when employees perform construction work above 6 feet or more over the next lower level.
The organization’s ongoing Fall Prevention Campaign was developed in association with the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health and NIOSH’s National Occupational Research Agenda program. Started in 2012, the campaign gives companies lifesaving data and instructional material on the best way to avoid falls, give the right hardware to specialists and train representatives to utilize equipment appropriately.
