Lancaster structural steel erection company cited after worker hospitalized for heat-related illness during bridge reconstruction project

Employer name: High Structural Erectors LLC, 1915 Old Philadelphia Pike, Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The inspection site was at the Route 84 East Bridge, between Matamoras, Pennsylvania, and Port Jervis, New York.

Citations issued: On Sept. 3, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued the company one general duty clause citation for exposing employees to heat stress conditions.

Investigation findings: OSHA determined that on July 20, 2015, an ironworker was hospitalized after being exposed to excessive heat while performing bridge work in direct sunlight for approximately eight hours. That day, there was a peak heat index of 91 degrees Fahrenheit. The company was cited for allowing employees to work in direct sun in high temperatures without instituting heat-related illness prevention procedures.

Proposed penalties: $4,900

Quote: "In summer temperatures, construction workers face an increased risk of heat-related illness and death. Heat stress can be reduced significantly by establishing a heat illness prevention program for outdoor workers," said Mark Stelmack, OSHA's area director in Wilkes-Barre.

View the citations: https://www.osha.gov/ooc/citations/HighStructuralErectorsLLC_1079080_9.3.15.pdf

The firm's workers' compensation insurer is Zurich Insurance headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland.

OSHA has a free app for mobile devices that enables workers and supervisors to monitor the heat index at their work sites. Additionally, a web page provides information and resources on heat illness — including how to prevent it and what to do in an emergency — for workers and employers.

To ask questions; obtain compliance assistance; file a complaint; or report amputations, eye loss, workplace hospitalizations, fatalities or situations posing imminent danger to workers, the public should call OSHA's toll-free hotline at 800-321-OSHA (6742) or the agency's Wilkes-Barre Area Office at 570-826-6538.