Framing contractor continues to expose workers to fall and other safety hazards; OSHA proposes nearly $360K in penalties

Employer name: Panama City Framing LLC

Inspection site: 3750 Cedar Park Lane
Panama City, Florida 32404

Citations issued: Inspectors with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration observed employees of Panama City Framing unprotected from falls as they installed truss framing at a residence in a Cedar Park subdivision. OSHA cited the company with two willful and two repeated safety violations. This inspection fell under OSHA’s Regional Emphasis Program on Falls in Construction.

Investigation findings: OSHA issued the willful citations for the employer’s failure to protect workers with a fall protection system when working at heights up to 22 feet, and for not having a roof access ladder for employees to access the roof trusses. Federal standards require the use of a guardrail, safety net or personal fall arrest systems when workers are working at heights of 6 feet or more above a lower level.

The agency cited the company for repeated violations for allowing workers to use powered nail guns without eye protection and failing to ensure employees were wearing head protection. OSHA cited the employer for the same violations in October 2015 at a work site in Panama City.

Background: OSHA has cited the employer previously four times since 2012 for willful, repeat and serious violations for a lack of fall, eye and head protection.

Proposed penalties: $359,878

Quote: “Panama City Framing’s management has been performing residential framing for nearly 20 years and is aware of OSHA’s fall protections standards, yet routinely exposes their employees to a primary cause of death in the construction industry,” said Brian Sturtecky, OSHA’s area director in Jacksonville.

The citations can be viewed at: https://www.osha.gov/ooc/citations/PanamaCityFraming_1136892.pdf

Based in Panama City, 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 Jacksonville Area Office at 904-232-2895.