New Hampshire Employer Cited for Endangering Workers

 

 

 

"Employees at this job site faced the risk of disabling or deadly injuries from falls, crushing injuries, or being struck by flying debris or objects while operating nail guns and other tools," said Rosemarie Ohar, OSHA's area director for New Hampshire. "Compounding the situation was the fact that these employees lacked training that would have taught them how to recognize and avoid such hazards." [WCx]

 

 

OSHA found employees exposed to falls from heights of 6 to 20 feet while performing exterior and interior framing work without fall protection or near an unguarded window, floor and stairwell openings, which resulted in a citation for one willful violation with a $28,000 fine. A willful violation is one committed with intentional knowing or voluntary disregard for the law's requirements, or with plain indifference to worker safety and health.

 

 

Nine serious violations with $31,200 in fines include a lack of eye protection for employees working with nail guns, power tools and staplers; damaged and misused ladders; a damaged sling used to lift walls; the employer's failure to certify that powered industrial truck operators had been trained; unsafe access to elevated areas of the building; lumber with protruding nails in a work area; not training employees to recognize fall, material handling, electrical and flying object hazards; and not training employees in the safe operation of power tools and the proper use of ladders.

 

 

A serious violation occurs when there is substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result from a hazard about which the employer knew or should have known. [WCx]

 

 

The company has 15 business days from receipt of its citations and proposed penalties to comply, meet with OSHA's area director or contest the findings before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.