An Occupational Safety and Health Administration workplace safety investigation found Elite Roofing Services Inc., Huntington, N.Y., could have prevented a roofing worker’s fatal fall April 14 at a worksite in Glen Cove, N.Y., by following legally required safeguards designed to prevent falls, according to OSHA. The company is not an NRCA member.
OSHA determined the deceased worker and other Elite Roofing Services employees were installing metal decking on a low-slope industrial roof when the worker fell through an opening to a concrete floor nearly 20-feet below.
OSHA’s investigators learned Elite Roofing Services did not provide roofing workers with protection against fall hazards, such as guardrails, safety nets, personal fall-arrest systems, positioning devices or fall-restraint systems. The work being completed fell under OSHA’s steel erection standard, and Elite Roofing Services failed to train each employee regarding how to recognize and mitigate fall hazards before conducting the steel erection work.
OSHA issued six willful violations for the fall hazards—one violation for each exposed worker—and one serious violation for not training the workers. The agency has proposed $522,527 in penalties for the violations.
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