OSHA Cites Fla. Contractor for Fall Hazards

The U.S. Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has cited E. C. Kenyon Construction Company Inc., for reportedly failing to protect employees from fall hazards at a Jacksonville job site. Proposed penalties total $50,000.

“OSHA conducted an inspection at the Park Street site on June 23, after being alerted that workers were exposed to fall hazards, a leading cause of construction fatalities in Florida,” said James Borders, OSHA’s Jacksonville area director.

The company received one willful citation, with a proposed penalty of $44,000, for reportedly directing an employee to work from a suspended scaffold without fall protection equipment, such as an independent lifeline.

OSHA issues a willful citation when an employer has shown an intentional disregard of, or plain indifference to, the requirements of the Occupational Safety and Health Act and regulations.

The contractor was also cited for exposing workers to falls while framing window openings inside the building, which was being renovated. This “repeat” citation has a proposed penalty of $6,000. OSHA issues a repeat citation when a company has been cited previously for a substantially similar condition and the citation has become a final order of the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

Kenyon Construction has 15 working days to contest the latest citations and proposed penalties before the review commission.