OSHA fines Little Rock contractor $41K for endangering brick workers on scaffolds at Hot Springs worksite

Employer name: ABC Equipment Inc., doing business as C. B. Masonry Inc.

Inspection Site: 4129 Central Ave., Hot Springs, Arkansas

Citations issued: April 5, 2016

Investigative findings: The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration inspectors visited a Hot Springs, Arkansas, worksite on Oct. 29, 2015, and found ABC Equipment Inc. exposed workers doing brick work to several scaffolding hazards. The investigation revealed six Serious violations as follows:

• Failing to plank platforms fully, and for failing to support the planks properly.
• Using block as improvised counterweights for the scaffolding.
• Not having toe boards on the scaffolding to protect workers below.
• Missing guard rails and improper access to the scaffolds.
• Exposing workers to falls from an unguarded surface.

This investigation falls under the Regional Emphasis Commercial Construction Program.

Proposed Penalties: $41,580

Quote: “ABC Equipment disregarded concerns from the general contractor about fixing the scaffolds and chose to continue to expose its workers to injury or death,” said Carlos Reynolds, OSHA’s area director in Little Rock. “Brick layers should not have to choose between a paycheck and a potential deadly fall.”

Link to the citations: http://www.osha.gov/ooc/citations/ABCEquipment_1102800.pdf

Information: Based in Little Rock, ABC Equipment Inc. has 15 business days from receipt of its 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 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 Little Rock Area Office at 501-224-1841.