Region 1 News Release: 10-1583-BOS/BOS 2010-479
Nov. 26, 2010
Contact: Ted Fitzgerald
Phone: 617-565-2074
E-mail: fitzgerald.edmund@dol.gov

Chelmsford, Mass., roofing contractor faces $40,000 in fines from US Labor
Department's OSHA following worker fall at Milford, NH, jobsite

CONCORD, N.H. – The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited Centimark Corp. for alleged repeat and serious violations of safety standards. The Chelmsford, Mass., roofing contractor faces a total of $40,000 in proposed fines following a May 13 incident at a jobsite located at 40 Crosby St. in Milford, N.H., in which a Centimark employee was injured when he fell off a nearly 10-foot high roof.

OSHA's inspection found that the workers on the roof lacked adequate protection against fall hazards and that there was no inspection conducted by a competent person to identify and correct these hazards. Specifically, the pitch of the roof section was steep enough to require the use of a more effective form of fall protection, such as a personal fall arrest system, than the warning line system that was in use.

"A competent inspection would have identified the need for more effective fall protection for workers and provided for it, thus preventing the hazard from existing in the first place," said Rosemarie Ohar, OSHA's area director for New Hampshire.

As a result of its inspection, OSHA issued one repeat citation to Centimark with a $35,000 proposed fine for the inadequate fall protection and one serious citation with a $5,000 fine for the lack of an adequate inspection. The repeat citation stems from Centimark having been cited in 2009 and 2010 for similar hazards at worksites in Bridge View, Ill., Strafford, Texas, and Philadelphia, Pa. OSHA issues a serious citation when there is substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result from a hazard about which the employer knew or should have known. A repeat violation is issued when an employer previously has been cited for the same or a similar violation of a standard, regulation, rule or order at any other facility in federal enforcement states within the last five years.

Detailed information on fall protection hazards and safeguards is available online at http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/fallprotection/index.html.

Centimark Corp. has 15 business days from receipt of its citations to meet with OSHA or contest the citations and proposed penalties before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission. The inspection was conducted by OSHA's Concord Area Office, telephone 603-225-1629. To report workplace accidents, fatalities or situations posing imminent danger to workers, call OSHA's toll-free hotline at 800-321-OSHA (6742).

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 assure 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.

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