Federal workplace safety officials have again cited a Newark, N.J. construction contractor for repeatedly violating U.S. Department of Labor safety requirements at three North Jersey worksites, exposing employees to falls from elevations.
The department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration inspected a worksite in Dover in June 2024 after receiving reports of RRC Home Improvement Inc. employees working on a roof without fall protection.
A month after warning the company about the hazard, OSHA inspectors opened inspections at two RRC worksites in Lodi in July 2024 as part of the agency’s National Emphasis Program for Falls in Construction.
Again, inspectors observed employees working without required fall protection. The inspections also uncovered violations involving a lack of hard hats, eye protection, fire extinguishers, non-compliant pump jack scaffold poles, and unsafe ladder use.
Following the three inspections, OSHA cited RRC Home Improvement for four willful and seven serious violations, for which the company faces $328,545 in proposed penalties.
In five inspections since 2017, OSHA has cited the company for failing to provide workers with fall protection and, given the willful nature of the fall-related offenses, added RRC Home Improvement to the agency’s Severe Violators Enforcement Program.
“Failing to provide and use fall protection when working at elevation - in this case on rooftops - is a disaster waiting to happen,” said OSHA Area Director Lisa Levy in Hasbrouck Heights, N.J. “Despite being cited multiple times since 2017, RRC Home Improvement continues to disregard critical safety standards, putting workers at grave risk.”
The company has 15 business days from receipt of its citations and penalties to comply, request an informal conference with OSHA’s area director or contest the findings before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.
