OSHA cites Georgia masonry contractor for exposing workers on scaffolding to dangerous fall risks in 7 out of 7 inspections

Employer name: MMC Construction LLC

Inspection site: 1470 Taylor Road, Montgomery, Alabama 36117

Citations issued: Citations were issued to the employer on June 24.

Investigation findings: Inspectors with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued citations to MMC Construction for two willful safety violations after seeing employees working on the second level of a scaffold without guardrails. This inspection fell under OSHA’s Regional Emphasis Program on Falls in Construction.

The agency issued the willful citations for the employer’s failure to protect employees from fall hazards while working from heights up to 13 feet. MMC did not require the use of a ladder or other means of safe access to the scaffold and failed to ensure all open sides of the scaffold had guardrails

Proposed penalties: $130,500

Quote: “MMC Construction’s continued refusal to comply with OSHA safety standards is putting its employees in serious and potentially fatal danger,” said Joseph Roesler, OSHA’s area director in Mobile. “Falls are a leading cause of death in the construction industry. OSHA remains committed to holding employers accountable for ensuring all workers are protected.”

The citations can be viewed at: http://www.osha.gov/ooc/citations/MMCConstructionLLC_1118442.pdf

MMC has had six OSHA inspections in the last five years, and the agency as cited the company for violations of OSHA’s construction scaffold standard in every inspection. 

Based in Dacula, Georgia, MMC Construction is a residential and commercial masonry contractor. The company has 10 employees. It 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 Mobile Area Office at 251-441-6131.

Read this news release en españól.