OSHA is taking an Illinois roofing contractor to court for failing to pay more than $360,000 in fines for repeatedly exposing employees to falls from heights.
Joshua Herion, owner of ECS Roofing Professionals Inc., is facing a lawsuit filed by OSHA in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.
This follows a March 6, 2023, Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC) decision affirming the citations issued by OSHA for fall hazards found at two job sites in Illinois and Wisconsin in October 2022.
Those inspections revealed Herion’s failure to provide employees with fall arrest systems, safety nets or guardrails as they installed siding and roofing materials at the two job sites.
Herion contested the citations along with $360,531 in fines, which the OSHRC affirmed in full. However, Herion has failed to pay the fine, leading OSHA to file a lawsuit to recover these penalties.
Herion’s history of OSHA violations dates to 2014. Since then, OSHA has cited Herion and his companies nine times for violations related to fall protection.
Just over one-third of construction fatalities were due to slips, trips and falls in 2021 and the industry accounted for 46% of all fatal slips, trips and falls during the same period, according to OSHA.
