OSHA recently fined a Pennsylvania stucco contractor for the second time in two months for scaffolding violations. For this recent inspection, the contractor is facing a $93,000 penalty.
On Nov. 25, 2015, an OSHA compliance officer witnessed employees of BC Stucco and Stone working about 18 feet above ground on a scaffold with major safety deficiencies. OSHA investigated the contractor’s Bear, DE, worksite and hit the company with one serious and five willful violations for failure to:
- fully plank and deck scaffolding
- provide a safe means of entry and exit on scaffolding
- provide guarded edges on scaffolding
- provide guardrail systems on scaffolding
- provide scaffold-related safety training by a competent person to each employee, and
- require employees to wear head protection while conducting stucco operations.
Schorn Construction Co. was the general contractor on the store remodeling job in Bear, DE. BC Stucco and Stone was a subcontractor hired to provide labor.
Erin Patterson, director of OSHA’s Wilmington, DE, Area Office, said in a press release:
“BC Stucco and Stone continues to make production the priority over ensuring a safe workplace for its employees, which is intolerable. This contractor is well aware of OSHA standards for safe scaffolding, but consistently disregards them and allows its workers to use scaffolding in such poor condition that even a small human error could lead to dreadful outcomes.”
BC Stucco and Stone has a long history of OSHA violations.
OSHA recently cited the company on May 2, 2016, for scaffolding violations at a Philadelphia worksite. The Upper Darby, PA, company was fined $116,600 for three willful, two repeat and two serious violations, including failure to:
- fully plank and deck scaffolds that were about 39 feet high
- install guardrails on scaffolds
- provide fall protection
- provide ladders, stair towers or other safe means of access to scaffolds, and
- require employees to wear hard hats.
BC Stucco and Stone has also been cited for similar violations in 2013 and 2014.
