OSHA Cites 4 Companies at Atlanta Construction Site

The U.S. Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has cited four construction companies for reportedly exposing workers to safety hazards at an Atlanta building site. The agency is proposing penalties totaling $115,250.

“OSHA is committed to reducing fall hazards, a leading cause of construction worker fatalities and injuries,” said Andre Richards, OSHA’s Atlanta-West area director. “An inspection was initiated after employees exposed to fall hazards were observed at a W. Marietta St. site where apartment buildings were under construction.”

The general contractor, W.G. Yates & Sons Construction Company, headquartered in Philadelphia, Miss., received two repeat citations with penalties of $42,500 for failing to provide proper anchorage and free fall distance for fall arrest systems. The company had been cited previously for a substantially similar condition.

Yates also received nine serious citations with additional penalties of $37,500. Cited hazards included: unguarded building edges; aerial lift being moved with workers in the basket and boom extended; falling building debris, and equipment being operated from an improper electrical outlet.

All-Tex Roofing Inc., Smyrna, Ga., received one repeat citation with a $20,000 penalty for failing to provide workers with proper fall protection. The company also received a $2,000 fine for one serious citation for exposing workers to “struck-by” injuries from materials stored too close to roof edges.

Atlantic Forming Inc., Stone Mountain, Ga., received two serious citations and $8,000 in penalties for failing to provide employees with properly anchored lifelines and adequate anchor points.

Forms Inc., Mableton, Ga., received two serious citations with penalties totaling $5,250 for failing to provide employees with proper fall protection and exposing them to injuries from falling materials.

The companies have 15 working days to contest the citations and proposed penalties before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.