Stratford contractor again exposes employees to fall, scaffold hazards

Employer name: Whole Life Construction Llc, 306 Bird Circle, Stratford, Connecticut

Citations issued: On Jan. 21, 2016, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited Whole Life Construction Llc for five repeat and two serious violations of workplace safety standards at a residential roofing job at 121 Anson St. in Bridgeport.

Investigation findings: OSHA inspectors found four employees working without fall protection, three atop the roof and one on a scaffold. These employees faced falls of more than 20 feet and 26 feet, respectively. The rooftop employees had not been trained in fall protection. The scaffold was not properly erected and braced, and employees were not trained to recognize scaffold hazards. Finally, employees faced electrocution hazards while working too close to energized power lines. OSHA had previously cited Whole Life Construction for similar hazards at work sites in New Haven and Danbury.

The company’s latest violations led OSHA to place Whole Life Construction in the agency’s Severe Violators Enforcement Program. The program focuses on recalcitrant employers that endanger workers by committing willful, repeat or failure-to-abate violations. Under the program, OSHA may inspect any of the employer's facilities if it has reasonable grounds to believe there are similar violations.

Proposed penalties: $48,400

Quote: “This employer has again deprived its employees of required, life-saving protections. That is unacceptable. Whole Life Construction’s workers risked deadly and disabling injuries from potential falls, scaffold collapse and electrocution. It is the employer’s responsibility to take and maintain effective corrective action and provide its employees with safe working conditions at all its job sites,” said Robert Kowalski, OSHA’s area director in Bridgeport.

Link to citations: Here.

Next steps: Whole Life Construction has 15 business days from receipt of its citations and penalties to comply, meet 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 Bridgeport Area Office at 203-579-5581.