Region 4 News Release: 13-2313-ATL (304)
Dec. 5, 2013
Contact: Lindsay Williams Michael D'Aquino
Phone: 404-562-2078 404-562-2076
Email: williams.lindsay.l@dol.gov d'aquino.michael@dol.gov

Louisiana cellular tower company cited by US Department of
Labor's OSHA following worker fatality

LOUISE, Miss. – Custom Tower LLC of Scott, La., has been cited by the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration for one willful safety violation following the death of a worker who fell approximately 125 feet while attempting to install a microwave dish on a cellular tower along Highway 149 in Louise. OSHA initiated the August inspection in response to the fatality.

"This preventable tragedy underscores the legal responsibility of employers to follow OSHA standards and procedures to ensure workers use fall protection equipment correctly," said Clyde Payne, director of OSHA's Jackson Area Office. "Employers must ensure a safe and healthful workplace for their workers."

The willful violation involves the employer failing to ensure that workers wore and used fall protection equipment properly while working from heights greater than 6 feet. A willful violation is one committed with intentional, knowing or voluntary disregard for the law's requirements, or with plain indifference to worker safety and health.

OSHA's fall prevention campaign provides employers and workers with lifesaving information and educational materials about working safely from ladders, scaffolds and roofs. It was developed in partnership with the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health and NIOSH's National Occupational Research Agenda program. More information on fall protection standards is available in English and Spanish at http://www.osha.gov/stopfalls.

Custom Tower LLC designs, manufactures, installs and repairs cellular towers. Proposed penalties total $50,400.

The company has 15 business days from receipt of the citations to comply, request an informal conference with OSHA's Jackson area director, or contest the citations and penalties 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 Jackson Area Office at 601-965-4606.

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 or CD from the COAST office upon request by calling 216-893-7828 or TTY 216-893-7755.