Last month OSHA issued a hazard alert about the dangers of using scissor lifts to film events and functions. Scissor lifts are portable, hydraulic-powered lifts that are commonly used by colleges and high schools to film athletic and band activities.

Last October, a 20-year-old University of Notre Dame student employee was killed while filming the team’s football practice from a scissor lift that was blown over by high winds. The worker, who reportedly was not trained to properly operate the equipment, raised the lift more than 39 feet into the air on a day in which winds exceeded 50 miles per hour. At the conclusion of OSHA’s investigation they cited the university for five serious and one willful violations netting $77,500 in violations.  Every single citation was the “General Duty “clause.

A few years back while attending another sporting event one of our staff spotted a camera man on a lift where they had removed the railing from the lift and provided the camera man no fall protection.  See photo.

The alert lists hazards associated with scissor lifts such as using the equipment during high winds or bad weather; overloading the equipment with heavy objects; removing the guardrails during operation; and driving the lift on uneven or unstable ground.

Employers can minimize scissor lift hazards by establishing safe work practices, including inspecting the lift before use; safely moving, positioning, and stabilizing the lift; selecting safe work locations; and identifying weather conditions that prevent use. Additional key safety practices include putting the scissor lift on a firm level surface, setting brakes and stabilizing the lift before raising it, and maintaining a 10 foot clearance from electrical power sources and overhead hazards such as tree branches.

Hazards can be further reduced by training workers on how to operate scissor lifts safely, making sure that the scissor lift has a guardrail system for fall protection, and operating and maintaining the lift according to the manufacturer’s recommendations.

OSHA’s Scaffolding eTool and Safety and Health Topics page on Scaffolding provide additional guidance on the hazards and requirements for using scissor lifts.

US Department of Labor’s OSHA proposes $235,500 in fines to Wilmington, Mass., contractor for fall and scaffold hazards at Boston’s Rowes Wharf

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has issued willful and serious citations to NER Construction Management Inc. for exposing workers to fall, scaffolding and other hazards at a worksite at 20 Rowes Wharf in Boston, Mass. The Wilmington, Mass., building restoration and masonry contractor faces a total of $235,500 in proposed fines.

OSHA’s inspection found NER employees exposed to falls of up to 17 feet due to a lack of fall protection while power washing the side of a building and while dismantling scaffolding. An additional fall hazard stemmed from the employer’s failure to fully plank the scaffolding from which the employee performed the power washing.

“A fatal or disabling fall can end a life or a career in seconds,” said Brenda Gordon, OSHA’s area director for Boston and southeastern Massachusetts. “Scaffolding is an essential tool – and fall protection a basic and required safeguard – for this type of work. There’s no reason for an employer’s failure to have proper and effective protections in place and in use at all times at all jobsites.”

As a result of these conditions, OSHA has issued the company three willful citations with $210,000 in proposed fines. A willful violation exists when an employer has demonstrated either an intentional disregard for the requirements of the law or plain indifference to employee safety and health.

NER also has been issued six serious citations with $23,500 in fines for improper scaffold erection; missing guardrails; failure to certify that employees had been trained and evaluated to safely operate powered industrial trucks; lack of emergency eyewashing facilities; and failure to ensure the use of eye, face and head protection. Finally, NER has been issued two other-than-serious citations with $2,000 in fines for inadequate recordkeeping. OSHA issues a serious citation 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. An other-than-serious violation is one that has a direct relationship to job safety and health, but probably would not cause death or serious physical harm.

Detailed information on hazards and safeguards for scaffolds and falls in construction is available to workers and employers at http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/scaffolding/index.html and http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/fallprotection/construction.html.

BRAINTREE, Mass. - The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited Misdea Enterprises LLC, a Weymouth, Mass., masonry contractor, for alleged willful and serious violations of safety standards after an employee fell 30 feet while climbing a scaffold at a jobsite located on Summit Street in Brookline, Mass. The company faces a total of $61,600 in proposed fines.

OSHA’s inspection found that the scaffold lacked a ladder or other safe means of accessing its upper levels and the workers were not supplied with fall protection while working on the scaffold. Employers must provide fall protection for each employee on a scaffold more than 10 feet above a lower level.

These conditions resulted in OSHA issuing two willful citations, with $56,000 in proposed fines, against the masonry company. OSHA defines a willful violation as one committed with plain indifference to or intentional disregard for employee safety and health.

“Falls are the leading cause of death in construction work, and employers must take all required steps to prevent and minimize this potentially deadly hazard,” said Brenda Gordon, OSHA’s area director for Boston and southeastern Massachusetts. “Safe working conditions must not and can never be a matter of luck.”

In addition, OSHA determined that the scaffold was not fully planked, which created an additional fall hazard. Furthermore, the agency found that workers were threatened by electrocution, since the scaffold was located less than 18 inches from uninsulated and energized power lines. These conditions resulted in two serious citations with $5,600 in fines. OSHA issues serious citations when death or serious physical harm is likely to result from hazards about which the employer knew or should have known.

Detailed information on construction fall and scaffolding hazards and safeguards is available online at http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/fallprotection/index.html and http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/scaffolding/construction.html.

Misdea Enterprises has 15 business days from receipt of its citations and proposed penalties to comply, meet with the OSHA area director or contest the citations and penalties before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission. This inspection was conducted by OSHA’s Braintree Area Office; telephone 617-565-6924.

Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, employers are responsible for providing safe and healthful workplaces for their employees. OSHA’s role is to assure these conditions for America’s working men and women by setting and enforcing standards, and providing training, education and assistance. For more information, visit http://www.osha.gov.

TSP Co., Inc. of Lexington Kentucky receives $420,000 in fines for safety violations discovered by Kentucky OSHA from a construction site inspection that occurred in October of 2009 at 100 Trojan Way in Vine Grove Kentucky.

The employer received nine Willful citations related to scaffolding violations.  Citations included employee was working on scaffolding that was more than 25 inches from wall with no fall protection.   Employees were seen climbing scaffolding to access work area; scaffold did not have proper means of access.  The employer did not ensure competent person inspected scaffolding before each work shift. Employees were working on scaffolding that was not erected under supervision of competent person. There were Masonry employees working on scaffolding at least 13 feet above lower level with no fall protection. There was an employee working near unguarded platform edge with no fall protection and Scaffolding did not have proper toe boards or other safety measures to protect three employees working below.  OSHA also observed scaffolding that was not properly joined together vertically by coupling or stacking pins or other means.

The final two willful citations involved the employer not providing training for employees working on scaffolds in fall and other hazards and not properly training employees on hazards associated with erecting, dismantling and working from scaffolds.

TSP also received an inspection in 2007 that is still listed as open by Kentucky OSHA that involves six similar citations with one being a repeat violation and five serious violations.  The current proposed fines for this inspection are $26,600.

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OSHA has cited International Masonry Inc. in Columbus Ohio with proposed penalties totaling $140,800 for alleged serious and willful violations of federal workplace safety standards after investigating the death of a worker.

International Masonry Inc. has been cited with three willful violations. The proposed penalties of $112,000 are for allegedly modifying the manufacturer’s designed outrigger brackets on scaffolding, not ensuring scaffolding was properly secured to prevent tipping and not ensuring bracing was installed according to manufacturer’s recommendations.The company also has received citations for seven serious violations, with proposed fines of $28,000. Some of the violations address the company’s failure to ensure that power industrial-truck operators were properly trained; failure to repair or replace damaged scaffolding components; guardrail not properly installed; and ladders not used as required, according to safety standards. The company also received an other-than-serious violation with a fine of $800 for not maintaining proper recordkeeping logs.

“Fatalities and injuries of workers due to falls from scaffolding are very much preventable if proper safety procedures are adhered to,” said Deborah Zubaty, OSHA’s area director in Columbus. “OSHA will use all legal measures to ensure that employers that willfully ignore OSHA safety regulations come into compliance. We want workers to return home, safe and healthy, at the end of every shift.”

OSHA conducted their inspection in July 2009 following the fatality of a worker who fell approximately 37 feet after the scaffolding he and two other workers were on collapsed. The family owned company, which employs approximately 100 people, specializes in masonry and stonework construction and has had 59 previous OSHA inspections resulting in 41 violations since 1973, including a fatality inspection in 2002.

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New Place Carpentry faces $308,500 in US Labor Department OSHA fines for fall hazards at 2 Massachusetts work sites.

New Place Carpentry, a New Haven, Conn., contractor with a long history of fall protection violations, faces a total of $308,500 in new fines from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) for willful and repeat fall hazards following the agency’s inspections at worksites in Plymouth and Methuen, Mass.

The contractor, which primarily performs residential framing work, has been cited by OSHA eight times since July 2003. Fines from earlier investigations total $171,700 for failing to provide fall protection and other required safeguards for workers at job sites in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island.

“The sizable fines proposed here reflect the gravity of these hazards and this employer’s ongoing refusal to comply with basic, commonsense and legally required protections for its workers,” said Marthe Kent, OSHA’s New England regional administrator. “Falls remain the number one killer in construction work. Employers who repeatedly fail to provide and ensure fall protection continue to place their workers’ lives at needless risk.”

Both of the latest inspections found workers engaged in residential construction work at heights greater than six feet without any form of fall protection. In addition, workers at the Plymouth site were working on unguarded, inadequately constructed and uninspected scaffolds, and were not trained to recognize scaffold hazards, while workers at the Methuen site were installing roof trusses without fall protection, lacked fall protection training and accessed an upper work surface via a ladder that did not extend above the surface for required stability.

Additional hazards identified at the job sites include gasoline-powered equipment left running while being refueled, power tools lowered to the ground by their cords, untrained fork truck operators, no fire extinguishers, debris with protruding nails in work areas, no hardhats where overhead hazards were present and no eye protection for workers using nail guns.

All told, based on the recent inspections, New Place Carpentry has been issued one willful, six repeat and 13 serious citations. OSHA defines a willful violation as one committed with plain indifference to or intentional disregard for employee safety and health, while serious citations are issued when death or serious physical harm is likely to result from hazards about which the employer knew or should have known.

The company has 15 business days from receipt of its citations and proposed penalties to comply, meet with OSHA or contest the findings before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission. The inspections were conducted by OSHA’s Braintree and Andover, Mass., area offices.

Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, OSHA’s role is to promote safe and healthful working conditions for America’s men and women by setting and enforcing standards, and providing training, outreach and education. For more information, visit:

http://www.osha.gov

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Three construction workers were injured as the forms for the concrete floor they were pouring collapsed.  Read more at http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20090428/NEWS01/904280360/1008/NEWS01/Floor+collapses+at+arena+site

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OSHA has proposed $118,650 in fines against 4 Brothers Stucco Co., a Cleveland, Tenn., stucco contractor, for 15 alleged repeat and serious violations of safety standards at a Torrington, Conn., worksite.OSHA’s inspection found employees working on scaffolding, in an aerial lift and on the roof at the 492 East Main St. worksite, were exposed to falls of up to 22 feet. The inspection also identified electrical, overhead and chemical hazard communication deficiencies at the worksite.

“These sizable fines reflect both the seriousness and recurring nature of several of the conditions cited here,” said C. William Freeman III, OSHA’s area director in Hartford. “Keep in mind that falls are the number one killer in construction work and can occur in an instant. Be it a scaffold, an aerial lift or a roof, proper and effective fall protection must be in place and in use at all times.”Specifically, 4 Brothers, which also operates as VP Stucco Co. Inc., was issued six repeat citations, with $84,000 in proposed penalties, for no fall protection for employees in an aerial lift; lack of guardrails on the scaffold; employees climbing the scaffold’s side and cross braces; employees not trained to recognize scaffold hazards; no protective helmets; and failing to have the scaffold erected and dismantled under the supervision of a competent person. A review of the OSHA website shows OSHA had cited the company in 2004, 2006, 2007 and 2008 for similar hazards at other worksites. Some of these inspections resulted in repeat violations as well.

The Torrington inspection also resulted in nine serious citations, with $34,650 in proposed penalties, for employees working on a roof without fall protection; an improperly supported scaffold; unguarded walkways between scaffolds; using an ungrounded extension cord to power a mixing drill; and lack of a hazard communication program, training, material safety data sheets, and protective gloves for employees working with cement and hazardous chemicals. OSHA issues serious citations when death or serious physical harm is likely to result from hazards about which the employer knew or should have known.

OSHA has cited LandCoast Insulation Inc. for three alleged safety violations following six injuries and one employee fatality last November when a scaffold collapsed inside a boiler at Mississippi Power’s Plant Daniel in Moss Point.OSHA is issuing one willful violation with a $63,000 proposed penalty for substituting weaker, horizontal scaffold components in 14 locations. The agency defines a willful violation as one committed with plain indifference to or intentional disregard for employee safety and health.Two serious citations are being issued with $9,000 in proposed penalties for the company’s use of damaged scaffold components in the construction process and for failing to provide employees with effective training. OSHA issues serious citations when death or serious physical harm is likely to result from hazards about which the employer knew or should have known.

OSHA has cited Oxbow Calcining LLC of Kremlin for $75,600 and Kansas City, Mo.-based Geo. P. Reintjes Co. Inc. for $49,050 for alleged safety and health violations following the death of a worker on North 30th Street in Kremlin.OSHA’s Oklahoma City Area Office began its inspection Sept. 22, 2008, following a release of steam and heated petroleum coke - materials heated in an industrial process - that occurred the day before while workers were removing refractory brick used for lining furnaces in kiln chambers. Three workers employed by Geo. P. Reintjes Co. Inc., the subcontractor, were severely burned, one of whom later died.

Oxbow Calcining, a subsidiary of the Oxbow Group headquartered in West Palm Beach, Fla., was cited with one willful violation for failing to follow written procedures for demolition of a refractory kiln. Citations also included two serious violations for failing to ensure employees were informed about the hazards associated with hot petroleum coke and failing to ensure workers were using the required personal protective equipment.

Geo. P. Reintjes Co. Inc., doing business as Reintjes Refractory Contractors, was cited with nine serious violations, including failing to use safe operating procedures for normal shut-down and tear-out of refractory materials at the kiln chamber, failing to provide necessary machine guarding and failing to adequately erect scaffolding.