Construction contractor exposes workers to fall hazards at Morgantown, West Virginia, worksite

Employer name: K& F Construction Inc., P.O. Box 6013, Martinsburg, West Virginia. The inspected work site was located at Suncrest Village, 100 Townshouse Way, Morgantown, West Virginia.

Citations issued: On September 18, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited the company for one willful and two serious violations.

Investigation findings: OSHA inspectors cited the company after finding employees were exposed to a 35-foot fall while working on a roof with no fall protection. The jobsite involved the new construction of three-story townhomes in Morgantown. K&F was performing roofing work on the residential structures. The company was also cited for its failure to provide employees with training related to fall hazards.

Proposed penalties: $44,220

Quote: "With falls as the leading cause of deaths in the construction industry, employers put workers' lives at risk when they don't provide the proper fall protection," said Prentice Cline, OSHA's area director in Charleston. "It's an employer's responsibility to ensure its employees have a safe and healthy workplace. Anything less is unacceptable."

View the citations: http://www.osha.gov/ooc/citations/KandFConstructionInc_1066800.pdf.

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 Charleston Area Office at 304-347-5937.