Marion County contractor ignores fall, electrocution hazards, putting workers in serious, potentially fatal danger at Fairmount work site

Employer name: M&M Construction LLC, doing business as Michael Jones Contracting
1912 Constitution Drive, Fairmont, West Virginia

Inspection site: Locust Avenue, Fairmont, West Virginia

Citations issued:  The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued two willful and eight serious citations on April 29, 2016.

Inspection findings:  OSHA opened an inspection on Nov. 17, 2015, after an inspector observed an employee working from scaffolding with no fall protection as he did roof work; the scaffolding was also near an electrical power line. At the same time, the inspector saw other employees on a roof as high as 19 feet above ground with no fall protection. The agency issued citations for these hazards. 

Quote: “Michael Jones Contracting failed to properly protect its employees at this work site, putting them in danger of a tragic fall or electrocution,” said Prentice Cline, OSHA’s area director in Charleston. “Every employer has a responsibility to provide employees with a safe and healthful workplace. Anything less is unacceptable.”

Proposed penalties: $46,400

The citations can be viewed at: http://www.osha.gov/ooc/citations/MMConstructionLLC_1107873.pdf

The employer has 15 business days from receipt of its citations and proposed penalties to comply, request a 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 Charlotte Area Office at 304-347-5937.

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.