Fall hazards are one of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) most top cited violations for roofing contractors, and 2022 was no different, resulting in hefty fines and, in some cases, tragic consequences.

RC examined the penalties proposed by OSHA to roofing companies in 2022 to see which contractors faced the heaviest tolls for violations. For this list, we considered both the dollar amount as well as any deaths. As a result, some entries higher on the list have lower penalty amounts than those below them due to fatal injuries.

10. C.R.H. Roofing LLC – Ohio

C.R.H. Roofing LLC of Middlefield, Ohio, is facing more than $414,000 in fines after exposing workers to fall hazards at two separate job sites within six days.

OSHA proposed $363,890 in penalties after identifying four willful and two repeat violations during inspections on June 3 and June 9, 2022. With these additional penalties, the company now owes more than $414,000 in fines.

After three previous inspections in 2019 and 2021, OSHA assessed C.R.H. more than $51,000 in penalties, which remain unpaid. OSHA has placed the company in its Severe Violator Enforcement Program.

9. ARP Renovation LLC/A.R.P. Roofing & Siding LLC – Maine

In April, OSHA proposed a total of $501,376 in penalties for ARP Renovation LLC/A.R.P. Roofing & Siding LLC of Maine. According to OSHA, the company willfully exposed employees to falls of 10 to 18 feet to the ground and pavement below at a residential construction site in Hampden, Maine, on multiple occasions.

The agency cited the companies for three egregious willful violations. The willful citations account for $435,081 while five serious violations and one other-than-serious violation carried $66,295 in proposed penalties.

According to an establishment search, the company had a formal settlement on April 27 to pay $100,000.

8. All Best Contractors Corp. – Pennsylvania

OSHA conducted six inspections in southern New Jersey at five work sites for All Best Contractors Corp., based in Philadelphia, in October and December 2021 and January and March 2022. In each instance, inspectors found the company didn't provide workers doing sheathing and framing work on roofs with fall protection, as the law requires.

OSHA cited the company with seven willful and 11 safety violations, which resulted in proposed penalties totaling $793,290.

7. Charm Builders Ltd. – Ohio

Following inspections that took place at a West Virginia worksite in March, OSHA issued citations for 12 violations to Charm Builders Ltd. in Millersburg, Ohio, for failing to ensure the use of fall protection, not training employees on fall hazards, allowing unsafe use of portable ladders, and not making sure workers used safety glasses. 

Charm Builders received a proposed $1,090,231 in penalties. An establishment search shows Charm Builders contested the citations Oct. 26.

6. Top Rank Construction – Florida

Sadly, the remaining entries on the list include a workplace fatality. According to OSHA, Top Rank Construction of Orlando, Fla., failed to comply with building code requirements, resulting in roof trusses to collapse and fatally injure a 67-year-old worker on Nov. 8, 2021.

The company also allowed workers to anchor personal fall arrest systems to individual trusses and exposed other workers to fall hazards by failing to ensure the use of a fall protection system. OSHA proposed $18,853 in penalties in May 2022. An informal settlement was reached, resulting in penalties of $12,254.

OSHA also cited the worksite's general contractor — Fulcrum Construction Group LLC — with a serious violation, resulting in a proposed $10,151 penalty.

5. J & L Roofing Inc. – Florida

In Pompano Beach, Fla., a 25-year-old worker with J & L Roofing Inc. died as a result of a fall on Jan. 19, 2022. OSHA claims the contractor allowed employees to tear off an existing roof without fall protection at a two-story residence in Davie, Fla. The worker fell from the roof onto a lower level and then to the ground. The worker succumbed to his injuries after 29 days in a hospital.

OSHA proposed $74,751 in penalties for a willful violation and a serious violation. The agency also issued an other-than-serious violation for failing to report a work-related hospitalization within 24-hours and a fatality within eight hours as the law requires.

The company reached an informal settlement for penalties totaling $51,232.

4. D&G Quality Roofing - Texas

Shielder Ventures, which operates as D&G Quality Roofing in Houston, Texas, worked on a Houston building on Jan. 26, 2022. A roofing worker suffered fatal injuries after falling about 30 feet through a skylight. As a result, OSHA found the company failed to provide the worker with a personal fall arrest system and failing to train employees on using safety equipment properly.

D&G Quality Roofing received a citation for the same violation after an inspection at a work site near Austin in November 2021.

OSHA proposed penalties totaling $223,341. An informal settlement resulted in a reduction of penalties to $155,178.

3. Premier South Roofing LLC - Louisiana

A 22-year-old worker with Premier South Roofing LLC of Baton Rouge, La., died after the roofer lost their footing, stepped on and fell through a skylight, plummeting about 30 feet to the ground. The incident occurred on April 2 while workers were repairing and replacing a roof in Baton Rouge.

On Feb. 2, 2022, an OSHA inspector observed five Premier South employees working on a roof without adequate fall protection.

Following the April inspection, OSHA cited the company for two repeat violations for failing to provide fall protection and verify employee training. The company faces $249,323 in proposed penalties from both inspections.

2. DME Construction Associates – New York

On Aug. 19, 2021, an employee working with DME Construction Associates of Setauket, N.Y., died after falling 18 feet through an unprotected skylight. 

In addition to the unprotected skylight, OSHA found the employer exposed workers to falls of up to 22 feet from other unguarded roof openings and roof edges, and failed to provide employees with any personal fall protection equipment.

In March 2022, OSHA proposed a total of $1,201,031 in penalties. As of March 10, 2022, the company has contested the citations.

Prior to the August incident, OSHA had cited DME seven times since 2011 for fall-related hazards, with more than $50,000 in unpaid fines. The company meets the requirements for the Severe Violator Enforcement Program.

1. ALJ Home Improvement – New York

ALJ Home Improvement of Nanuet, N.Y., received $1,343,363 in proposed penalties after the OSHA investigated an employee's fatal fall, the second in three years.

OSHA opened an inspection of ALJ Home Improvement Inc. on Feb. 8, 2022, when a worker fell from the roof of a three-story residential construction project in Spring Valley. In February 2019, a company employee died in a fall at a Kiamesha Lake work site.

Since 2019, OSHA has inspected ALJ Home Improvement six times, issuing 21 violations and issuing $299,425 in fines.