OSHA finds Ohio-based roofing company exposed employees to falls again, this time at a Pittsburgh work site

Employer name: A&W Roofing LLC
8071 Parkman Mespo Road
Middlefield, Ohio

Inspection site: 156 La Belle Street, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Citations issued: On Nov. 4, 2016, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued citations for three willful and two serious safety violations.

Inspection findings: OSHA initiated an inspection on May 13, 2016, after receiving a complaint alleging that A&W employees were working without fall protection. The inspection was also part of the agency’s local emphasis program focused on fall hazards in the construction industry.

The willful violations involved the roofing contractor’s failure to:

• Provide fall protection to employees working 35 to 40 feet above the ground on a steep sloped roof.
• Ensure workers on the ground wore hardhats to prevent head injuries from falling objects while employees installed shingles above them.
• Ensure ladders were properly extended to prevent falls.

A&W Roofing was cited in 2014, 2015 and 2016 for similar violations at work sites in Ohio.

The serious violations were due to A&W not having an effective safety and health program and not providing fall protection training.

Quote: “A&W Roofing continues to disregard OSHA standards intended to prevent injuries and save lives in the high-hazard construction industry. This is the fifth time in two years this company has been cited and penalized by OSHA for exposing workers to fall hazards. A&W Roofing’s blatant disregard for worker safety is intolerable and completely unacceptable,” said Christopher Robinson, director of OSHA’s Pittsburgh Area Office.

Proposed penalties: $307,824

The citations can be viewed at: https://www.osha.gov/ooc/citations/AandWRoofingLLC_1148754.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 Pittsburgh Office at 412-395-4903.

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.