Region 1 News Release: 10-1219-BOS/BOS 20120-452
Nov. 9, 2010
Contact: Ted Fitzgerald
Phone: 617-565-2074
E-mail: fitzgerald.edmund@dol.gov

Fall River, Mass., contractor faces $70,000 fine from US Labor Department's
OSHA following worker fall at Rhode Island jobsite

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited Miranda Roofing Inc., a Fall River, Mass., roofing and siding contractor, for an alleged willful violation of safety standards after a worker was injured when he fell 15 feet from a ladder at a Portsmouth, R.I., jobsite.

Miranda Roofing faces the maximum proposed fine of $70,000 for failing to provide fall protection for employees working atop a roof at 3001 E. Main Road in Portsmouth. OSHA defines a willful violation as one committed with plain indifference to or intentional disregard for employee safety and health.

"We found employees working without any form of fall protection at heights up to 15 feet, even though this employer well knows the requirement for fall protection whenever employees work at heights of 6 feet or above," said Patrick Griffin, OSHA's area director for Rhode Island. "We've proposed the maximum fine because of the severity of this hazard and this employer's repeated history of failing to ensure fall protection for workers at other jobsites."

Prior to this inspection, OSHA cited the company five times since 2005 for roofing fall protection hazards at worksites in Rhode Island and southeastern Massachusetts. Detailed information on fall protection hazards and safeguards is available online at http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/fallprotection/index.html.

"Falls are the leading cause of death in construction work," said Griffin. "Each time the employer fails to provide fall protection, the employees are exposed to potential death or disabling injury."

Miranda Roofing has 15 business days from receipt of the citations to comply, 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 Providence Area Office, telephone 401-528-4669. To report workplace accidents, fatalities or situations posing imminent danger to workers, call OSHA's toll-free hotline at 800-321-6742.

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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