OSHA fines construction company after 3 suffer injuries

On April 9, it was reported that OSHA officials cited the owner of a home improvement company for multiple violations after three Massachusetts workers were injured when their scaffold platform broke. Officials stated that the accident occurred because the scaffold was made from materials that were not built to hold the employees’ weight and were not acceptable for use as a scaffold.

The accident occurred in October 2014. All three of the injured workers were taken to a local hospital. Two of the workers were hospitalized while the third was treated as an outpatient. While the severity of their injuries was not stated, it was reported that, among the three workers, they included broken bones, a punctured lung, rib fractures and other injuries.

When OSHA officials came to the job site to investigate the accident, they discovered a number of other violations, including unsafe ladders, the use of defective or damaged scaffolding and missing scaffold anchorage. Additionally, their employees had not been trained in using fall protection. The company that the employees were deemed to be working for had reportedly been inspected by OSHA several times and had a history of repeat violations. In this incident, fines totaling $294,500 were imposed by OSHA.

Employers are responsible for providing the property safety equipment and training that could reduce potential workplace injuries. An attorney can help an injured client with a workers’ compensation claim by demonstrating the full nature of the injuries that were suffered and how the client’s ability to perform duties in the future will be affected.

Source: EHS Today, “Not For Scaffold Use: Three Massachusetts Roofers Hospitalized When Scaffolding Breaks“, Sandy Smith, 04/09/2015