Worker suffers severe injuries when he falls inside water tower

BARABOO, Wis. — A worker repainting a Baraboo water tower suffered severe injuries when he fell inside the tower to a platform below. Before falling, he had been cleaning and vacuuming debris while two painters sprayed the tower's interior with xylene-based paint.

U.S. Department of Labor Occupational Safety and Health Administration inspectors found his employer, LC United Painting Co. of Sterling Heights, Michigan, lacked adequate fall protection. The agency cited the company on Nov. 30 for 40 serious safety and health violations. Proposed penalties total $178,640.

"This worker suffered severe and preventable injuries because LC United Painting failed to ensure the use of adequate fall protection," said Ann Grevenkamp, OSHA's area director in Madison. "Employers must evaluate their job site to ensure workers are protected. No one should be injured on the job."

OSHA's investigation into the June 2, 2015, injury found numerous violations including the following:

• Inadequate fall protection.
• Failure to develop permit-required confined space procedures.
• Neglecting to erect and inspect scaffolding correctly.
• Lack of a proper respiratory protection program.
• Failure to conduct regular job site visits.
• Insufficient powered industrial truck, fall, chemical and job hazards training.
• Damaged powered industrial trucks in service.
• Inadequate ladder safety program.
• Electrical safety hazards.
• Improper storage of compressed gas, fuel and oxygen cylinders.
• Lack of a hearing conservation program.

View current citations here.

• http://www.osha.gov/ooc/citations/LCUnited_1068239.pdf
• http://www.osha.gov/ooc/citations/LCUnited_1069944.pdf

The company has 15 business days from receipt of its citations and penalties to comply, request an informal conference with OSHA's area director, or contest the findings before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review 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 Madison Area Office at 608-441-5388.

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 ensure 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.