Framing contractor cited by OSHA for failing to report hospitalizations and exposing workers to various hazards at a Fort Worth construction site

Employer name: Jose Luis Hernandez

Citations issued: Dec. 17, 2015

Investigation findings: The employer was cited by the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration for one willful violation for failing to ensure workers utilize fall protection. Additionally, five serious violations were cited for inadequate bracing on trusses, extension cords with exposed wiring and missing grounding pins, failing to provide hazard recognition training, and failing to take damaged personal fall arrest systems out of service. The other-than-serious violation was cited for failing to report the hospitalization of employees to OSHA within 24 hours.

OSHA opened the inspection July 20 after receiving a referral from the Fort Worth Police Department regarding four workers requiring hospitalization after falling when a roof truss collapsed at a commercial construction site. Reporting a hospitalization is part of the new record keeping requirements. As of Jan. 1, 2015 a company is required to report the hospitalization of one or more employees, amputation or loss of an eye within 24 hours.

Proposed Penalties: $44,600

Quote: "Jose Luis Hernandez exposed his workers to unnecessary injuries and jeopardized their safety and livelihood by failing to provide necessary and required fall protection," said Josh Bernstein, OSHA's acting area director in Fort Worth, Texas. "It is the employer's responsibility to provide a safe and healthy workplace and that includes fall protection for employees who work at a height of six feet or more at a construction site."

Link to the citations: http://www.osha.gov/ooc/citations/MX-5001N_112548.pdf

Information: Jose Luis Hernandez, based in Balch Springs, Texas, has 15 business days from receipt of their citations to comply, request an informal conference with OSHA's area director, or contest the citations and penalties 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 Fort Worth Area Office at 817-581-7303. For more information, visit http://www.osha.gov.