OSHRC dismisses citation in part over ‘hearsay’ in scaffolding incident

A scaffolding company must pay a $7,000 fine after the Secretary of Labor proved that it had failed to protect workers when an employee was seriously injured from a scaffold component that had rolled off the upper level of the scaffold and struck his arm while working on a project in Mobile, Alabama.

In what became the final order of the Occupational Safety and Health Commission on Thursday, Baytown, Texas-based Precision Refractory Services LLC saw part of its citation dismissed over what the ruling called “hearsay” regarding the incident, reducing the original proposed fine of $8,702, according to Secretary of Labor v. Precision Refractory Services.

In part of the original citation, of which the review commission accepted, the secretary alleged the company exposed its employee to a struck-by hazard by failing to ensure alterations to the scaffold were made by a competent person and by allowing employees to enter a hazardous area below the scaffold.