Aug. 9, 2017
North Florida Roofing Company Cited Again for Workplace Safety Hazards
OSHA Has Investigated Great White Construction a Dozen Times Since 2012
ST. AUGUSTINE, FL – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has again cited a North Florida roofing contractor for failing to protect its workers from the risks of dangerous falls and other hazards at two St. Augustine work sites.
On Feb. 3, 2017, an OSHA inspector observed employees – without the use of proper fall protection – removing shingles and plywood sheeting from the roof of a multi-story residential structure in the city’s Crescent Beach area. Although the employees wore harnesses, they were not tied off to the rope grabs and roof anchors. After noticing other Great White employees working under similar conditions at a nearby site, a second inspection was initiated immediately as part of OSHA’s regional enforcement program for falls in construction.
OSHA cited Great White Construction Inc., based in Jacksonville, with 14 violations and proposed penalties totaling $1,523,710. Given the employer’s extensive prior history of violations and OSHA’s egregious citation policy, the agency issued 11 separate willful citations for failing to protect employees from fall hazards. OSHA also cited the company for three repeat violations for failing to ensure employees used eye protection while operating nail guns and for ladders used to access roof sites, again exposing employees to fall hazards.
“In the past five years, Great White Construction’s series of willful, serious, and repeat violations has demonstrated indifference towards the safety of their employees,” said OSHA Regional Administrator Kurt Petermeyer. “The company allowed their employees to work without fall protection and made no reasonable effort to eliminate the hazard.”
As a result of these investigations and citations, Great White is now in OSHA’s Severe Violator Enforcement Program due to high-gravity willful, egregious violations related to fall hazards.
OSHA has investigated Great White 12 times since 2012, and issued 22 citations related to improper fall protection, ladder safety, and eye protection.
Click here and here for the recent citations that OSHA issued to Great White.
Great White specializes in residential and commercial roofing. The company’s workforce consists of approximately 150 employees.
The company has 15 business days from receipt of its citations and proposed penalties to contest the findings before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.
To ask questions; obtain compliance assistance; file a complaint; or report amputations, eye loss, workplace hospitalizations, fatalities, or situations posing imminent danger to workers, the public should call OSHA’s toll-free hotline at 800-321-OSHA (6742) or the agency’s Jacksonville Area Office at 904-232-2895.