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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This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 30th, 2009 at 8:56 am and is filed under Ladders, Feb, 2010, Scaffolding, Powered Industrial Trucks, OSHA Inspections. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.