Text For Citation: 02 Item/Group: 001B Hazard:

29 CFR 1926.503(a)(1): The employer does not have a program to ensure compliance with fall protection requirements, and does not designate any competent person to ensure that workers use appropriate fall protection. To abate this item the employer must initiate and maintain a program, including frequent and regular inspections by competent persons it designates, to ensure that workers use appropriate fall protection." Pursuant to 29 C.F.R. 1903.19, the employer must submit documents describing the steps it is taking to ensure compliance, including the names and qualifications of the persons it is designating as competent and a description of their responsibilities. For example, at the Worksite located at 42-44 Lexington Ave., Hyde Park, MA 02136, on or about August 17, 2023, employees were exposed to fall hazards of an estimated 20 feet, where the employer did not ensure that employees who were required to work from the roof at a height above six feet were trained in the hazards associated with falls and how to avoid them. The employer did not provide a training program for each employee potentially exposed to fall hazards to enable each employee to recognize the hazards of falling and the procedures to be followed to minimize these hazards, as observed by CSHOs on August 17, 2023, as well as prior inspections of either this employer or another business owned by the same owner with 503(a)(1) citations, including each of the below examples: -OSHA previously issued a citation alleging a Serious violation of this occupational safety and health standard, 29 CFR 1926.503(a)(1) which was contained in OSHA inspection number 1593445, citation number 1, item number 1 and was affirmed as a final order on 6/29/2022 to Brothers Construction Services, Inc. dba Brothers Construction & Roofing, Inc., with respect to a workplace located at 90 Eames St., Framingham, MA 01702. The owner of this business cited previously is the same owner of the company now being cited here. -OSHA previously issued a citation alleging a Serious violation of this occupational safety and health standard, 29 CFR 1926.503(a)(1) which was contained in OSHA inspection number 1566993, citation number 1, item number 2, and was affirmed as a final order on 2/22/2022 to Brothers Construction Services, Inc., with respect to a workplace located at 111 Fairfield Rd., Needham, MA 02492. OSHA also previously issued multiple fall protection and other citations to a second different company owned by the same owner as the company now being cited. The name of this previous company was A S General Construction, Inc. This company failed to pay penalties and failed to comply with the applicable standards, and so the Secretary of Labor had to obtain an enforcement order under Section 11(b) of the Act in 2016 - see First Circuit Case No. 16-1683.