Texas Construction Injury Lawyers

Texas Construction Injury - Scaffolding Hazards

Texas - An alleged failure to protect employees from safety hazards has brought Kaufman, Texas-based Metroplex Masonry Inc. $210,000 in proposed penalties from the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).

Metroplex Masonry was cited for four serious and seven repeat safety violations following an inspection that began Aug. 8, 2007, at the company's worksite in North Richland Hills. The company, which provides masonry services, has about 100 employees, 40 of whom were working at this site.

"The OSHA inspection revealed that the company did not take appropriate action to protect its employees from serious injury," said Dean McDaniel, OSHA's regional administrator in Dallas. "Employers must remain committed to keeping the workplace safe and healthful at all times."

The serious violations include failure to provide scaffold working platforms of sufficient width, to remove and replace damaged scaffold components, and to provide fall protection at the ends of scaffold platforms. A serious violation exists when there is a substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result, and the employer knew or should have known of the hazard.

Repeat violations are for failure to provide fall protection on balconies, to fully plant scaffold working platforms, to provide safe access to scaffold platforms and to provide adequate protection from falling objects. Repeat violations are issued when an employer previously has been cited for the same or a substantially similar violation that has become a final order.

The company has 15 business days from receipt of the citations to comply, request an informal conference with OSHA's area director in Fort Worth, Texas, or contest the citations and penalties before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

Employers and employees with questions about workplace safety and health may contact OSHA's Fort Worth Area Office at 817-428-2470. A toll-free hotline at 800-321-6742 may be used to report workplace accidents, fatalities or situations posing imminent danger to employees.

OSHA operates a vigorous enforcement program, conducting more than 39,000 inspections in fiscal year 2007 and exceeding its inspection goals in each of the last eight years. In fiscal year 2007, OSHA found nearly 89,000 violations of its standards and regulations.

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