Background
Precision Refractory Services, LLC, a refractory services and fireproofing company, was fined seven thousand dollars by the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission. The Commission found the company in serious violation of a regulation requiring employers to take steps to prevent objects from falling off scaffolding and striking employees. A three-foot-long metal pipe fell off a scaffold, hit an employee, and hospitalized him. The Commission fined the company for allowing bricklayers to enter a hazard area below the scaffold without safety measures.
The court’s reasoning
The court rejected the argument that compliance methods depend on scaffolding height, noting that the regulation provides five alternative means for employers to comply. The court found substantial evidence of a falling-object danger because insulated bricks, tools, and cardboard boxes were present on the upper scaffold levels. The court also held that the record contained substantial evidence that the company’s supervisory personnel had actual or constructive knowledge of the risk.
What it means going forward
The decision reinforces that employers cannot avoid liability for falling-object hazards by claiming specific safety measures were unavailable if other alternative compliance methods existed.