Region 7 News Release: 14-208-KAN
Feb. 19, 2014
Contact: Scott Allen Rhonda Burke
Phone: 312-353-6976
Email: allen.scott@dol.gov burke.rhonda@dol.gov

US Labor Department's OSHA fines Andres Roofing Co. $52,800 for workplace
safety violations
Company repeatedly exposed roofing workers to fall hazards

DES PERES, Mo. – The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited Andres Roofing Co. Inc. for four repeat safety violations with proposed penalties of $52,800. The employer repeatedly exposed workers to fall hazards at a residential construction site in Kirkwood. Since 2010, the Des Peres-based company has been cited in four inspections for similar violations.

"Falls remain the leading cause of death in the construction industry. Allowing construction workers to install new roof shingles without fall protection is unacceptable," said Bill McDonald, OSHA's area director in St. Louis. "Andres Roofing has a responsibility to protect workers from deadly hazards, and repeat failures to do so are unacceptable."

Workers at the Kirkwood site were installing new roof shingles on a pitch roof almost 22 feet high without any type of fall protection, directly violating OSHA construction safety standards. The company also failed to provide eye and face protection for workers operating power tools. Four repeat safety violations were cited for these conditions and other hazards.

OSHA issues repeat violations if an employer previously was cited for the same or a similar violation of any standard, regulation, rule or order at any other facility in federal enforcement states within the last five years. The same violations were cited at various construction sites throughout the St. Louis area in April 2010 and in March, June and November 2011.

OSHA has created a Stop Falls Web page at http://www.osha.gov/stopfalls with detailed information in English and Spanish on fall protection standards. The page offers fact sheets, posters and videos that vividly illustrate various fall hazards and appropriate preventive measures. OSHA standards require that an effective form of fall protection be in use when workers perform construction activities 6 feet or more above the next lower level.

Andres Roofing Co. has 15 business days from receipt of its citations and penalties to comply, request an informal 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 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 St. Louis Area Office at 314-425-4249.

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.

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U.S. Department of Labor news materials are accessible at http://www.dol.gov. The information above is available in large print, Braille, audio tape or disc from the COAST office upon request by calling 202-693-7828 or TTY 202-693-7755.