OSHA cites roofing contractor for exposing workers to fall hazards

Employer name: Julio Galindo

Citations issued: Dec. 21, 2015

Investigation findings The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration's Toledo Area Office cited Columbus-based roofing contractor Julio Galindo for one willful and seven repeated safety violations. The company has also been placed in the Severe Violator Enforcement Program.

OSHA investigators found the company failed to protect workers from fall hazards on a job site in Toledo on July 8 and in Hollandon July 21. The company has been cited for failing to provide fall protection at seven locations in Ohio since 2010.

The company also failed to:

• Conduct job site inspections;
• Provide eye protection for employees using pneumatic nail guns; and
• Train workers to avoid unsafe conditions.

Quote: "It is unacceptable that Julio Galindo continues to endanger the safety of its workers by refusing to ensure that adequate fall protection is used on job sites. A worker can be severely injured or killed in mere seconds in a preventable fall," said Kim Nelson, OSHA's Area Director in Toledo. "Employers have a responsibility to train and protect their workers on job sites."

Proposed Penalties: $54,650

To ask questions, obtain compliance assistance, file a complaint, or report 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 Toledo Area Office at 410-259-7542.