NAPLES, Fla. — OSHA has cited TarHeel Corp. for exposing employees to safety hazards after an employee died as a result of a fall last year at the Forest Glen Golf & Country Club in Naples, Fla.
OSHA cited the St. Petersburg, Fla.-based contractor for failing to provide employees with fall protection systems while they performed roofing activities, failing to train them on the proper procedures to erect and use the systems, and for failing to train employees operating powered industrial trucks.
The roofing and waterproofing contractor faces $32,013 in penalties.
“This incident may have been prevented had the company implemented and followed OSHA’s fall protection standards,” said OSHA Ft. Lauderdale Area Director Condell Eastmond in a release.
Details about the person who died were not revealed in the report.
Per the citation, OSHA investigators determined that on Aug. 31, 2018, the company did not ensure that each operator of a JLG Skytrac Model 10054 was not “exposed to a struck by hazard.”
OSHA also claims several employees were “exposed to a fall hazard of approximately 30 feet to ground level while going to dump roofing materials without fall protection.”
Further, OSHA said that “a competent person did not provide employees with training in the correct procedures for erecting and using personal fall arrest systems, exposing employees to a fall hazard of approximately 30 feet while performing roofing work of 3-story residential buildings.”
According to its website, TarHeel “provides commercial roofing, waterproofing and related services throughout the United States, Caribbean and select overseas projects. We specialize in large, complex projects and multi-location portfolios as well as servicing individual property owners.”
The company did not respond to a request for comment from Roofing Contractor.
However, the Naples Daily News reported that a spokesman for TarHeel said the company would contest all of the allegations of violations.
The company has 15 business days from receipt of the citations and proposed 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.
