Citations, fines over fall hazards at Georgia roofing job upheld

The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission has upheld fall hazard citations issued to a Georgia company that served as general contractor on a residential townhome roofing project.

The commission, in an order published Monday, granted summary judgment to the U.S. labor secretary in a case against Norcross-based Fama Construction Inc. over safety citations issued in March 2019 following a work site visit.

Fama admitted that by March 2019, it had ended its training program and halted safety inspections of its worksites, asserting that the subcontractors it hires bore those responsibilities.

Nevertheless, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited Fama over the fall hazards discovered at the townhome work site.

The commission said Fama still had to satisfy certain safety requirements in its secondary role as a controlling employer.

Fama mounted an infeasibility defense, in which companies being cited must prove that compliance with certain safety requirements would be technologically or economically infeasible.

Fama said compliance with the cited OSHA provisions would require it to hire an additional supervisor at $50,000 annually, which it said would force it out of business.  

The commission agreed with OSHA that Fama failed to provide proof there would be no feasible alternative means of protecting its subcontractors from job site dangers.  

In granting summary judgment to the government, the commission affirmed two workplace safety citations and ordered the company to pay $68,344 in penalties.