OSHA will be conducting weekend inspections in 18 Colorado, Montana and South Dakota counties through the fall of 2022 as part of an initiative targeting falls from heights in the construction industry.
Area offices in Denver and Englewood, Colorado; Billings, Montana; and Sioux Falls, South Dakota, will take part in the “Weekend Work” initiative to open workplace safety and health inspections on weekends in multiple counties in the three states.
The counties include:
- Arapahoe, Douglas, Jefferson, El Paso, Adams, Boulder, Broomfield, Denver, Larimer and Weld counties in Colorado
- Yellowstone, Carbon and Stillwater counties in Montana, and
- Minnehaha, Lincoln, Brookings, Pennington and Union counties in South Dakota.
Multiple fall-related fatalities, injuries in region since 2017
The agency has investigated 10 fatalities and “numerous serious construction-related fall injuries” in these counties since 2017. In 2021, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that falls from heights led to 351 of the 1,008 deaths among construction workers.
“OSHA’s Weekend Work initiative will identify and address construction-related fall hazards on weekends, when many employers typically do not monitor their job sites well,” OSHA Regional Administrator Jennifer Rous said.
More information about fall hazards and related OSHA standards can be found on OSHA’s Stop Falls website.
