JA Siding Construction Services in Georgia exposed workers to dangerous falls and other safety hazards

Employer name: Jose M. Hernandez Cruz, doing business as JA Siding Construction Services LLC

Inspection site: 2132 Shale Lane NW, Atlanta, Georgia 30318

Citations issued: Citations were issued on Nov. 20, 2015.

Investigation findings: The Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited JA Siding for two willful and one repeated safety violation. This inspection fell under OSHA's Regional Emphasis Program on Falls in Construction.

OSHA issued the employer willful citations for failing to provide fall protection equipment to employees working on a scaffold and for failing to ensure the scaffold was properly secured. These hazards exposed workers to falls ranging from 28-32 feet.

A repeated citation was also issued for not providing protective eyewear to workers using a pneumatic nail gun. JA Siding was previously cited for this violation in 2014.

Proposed penalties total $65,120.

Quote: "Falls are the leading cause of death in construction and JA Siding is blatantly disregarding the safety and health of its workers by not providing fall protection and not ensuring the scaffolding is properly secured," said Christi Griffin, director of OSHA's Atlanta-West Area Office. "These hazards cannot continue to go unchecked and management must make immediate changes."

The citations can be viewed at: http://www.dol.gov/opa/media/press/osha/OSHA20152149fs.pdf

JA Siding has 15 business days from receipt of citations and proposed penalties to comply, request a conference with OSHA's area director or contest the findings before the independent Commission. 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 Atlanta-West Area Office at 678-903-7301.