Judge has ordered Design Plastering West LLC to pay criminal and civil penalties for criminal violations of OSHA standards after employee Jorge Carrion Torres, 44, suffered a fatal fall at an apartment complex in Dallas.

July 25, 2018

Court Orders Contractor to Pay $250,000 for Safety Violations
Following Fatal Fall at Dallas Apartment Complex

DALLAS, TX – 

U.S. District Court Judge Ed Kinkeade has ordered Design Plastering West LLC to pay criminal and civil penalties for criminal violations of occupational safety and health standards after an employee suffered a fatal fall at an apartment complex in Dallas. The court ordered the company to pay a $150,000 criminal fine, $100,000 civil penalty, admit to eight willful violations, and to undergo monitoring by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) for four years.

On May 14, 2015, a worker fell from a third floor balcony while applying stucco without fall protection. OSHA cited the company for willfully failing to install scaffolding and provide workers with personal fall protection. In May 2018, Design Plastering West LLC pleaded guilty to the willful citation on fall protection.

“This company failed to comply with well-known safety requirements,” said OSHA’s Dallas Region Acting Regional Administrator Eric Harbin. “This sentence should serve as a reminder that employers can be held criminally responsible for failing to protect their workers’ safety.”

The criminal prosecution and sentencing in this case was the result of a collaboration between OSHA, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of the Solicitor, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas.

Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, employers are responsible for providing safe and healthful workplaces for their employees. OSHA's role is to help ensure these conditions for America's working men and women by setting and enforcing standards, and providing training, education and assistance. For more information, visit http://www.osha.gov.

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November 2015

Unguarded balcony, lack of fall protection cause death
of Dallas construction worker, OSHA finds
Design Plastering Inc., Design Plastering West LLC cited for multiple violations    DALLAS, TEXAS – A fall from a third-story balcony killed 44-year-old Jorge Carrion Torres as he worked on the exterior of an apartment complex on May 14, 2015. Torres, who had been on the job for one month, was applying stucco underlayment to the balcony walls when the incident occurred. His employer had not installed scaffolding and had not provided Torres or his co-workers with personal fall protection.

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited his employers, Design Plastering Inc. and Design Plastering West LLC, of Phoenix, on Nov. 10 for eight egregious willful and four serious violations. Previously, the state OSHA in Arizona had cited Design Plastering seven times for allowing fall-related hazards.
Federal safety and health officials have proposed fines totaling $407,400 for the citations*.

When an employer fails to put up a guardrail or scaffolding, or doesn’t provide personal fall-arrest systems, anyone working at a height of six feet or more is defenseless against a fall. OSHA will not tolerate this kind of employer behavior,” said Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health Dr. David Michaels.

“This senseless loss of a man’s life is the result of this employer’s failure to comply with clear OSHA safety requirements despite the fact that it had been previously cited for the same violations,” Michaels added. “Design Plastering has been cited for $5,850 in the past for fall hazard related violations. Clearly, these penalties were not sufficient to deter this employer’s unlawful actions.”

The Bureau of Labor Statistics* reports that one in five private industry worker deaths in 2014 were in construction. Falls are the leading cause of death for construction workers, accounting for nearly 40 percent of 2014’s construction fatalities. Texas leads the nation in construction fatalities. This is the second egregious case involving fall protection there in recent months. Earlier this year, a construction worker in Houston denied a safety harness suffered severe injuries after falling through a roof.

Based in Phoenix, plaster and stucco contractors Design Plastering and Design Plastering West employ about 90 workers. They have 15 business days from receipt of the citations and penalties to comply, request an informal conference with OSHA’s area director, or contest the findings before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

At the time of the fatal incident, Argonaut Insurance Co. was the workers’ compensation carrier for the employer.

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 Dallas Area Office at 972-952-1330.

Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, employers are responsible for providing safe and healthful workplaces for their employees. OSHA’s role is to ensure these conditions for America’s working men and women by setting and enforcing standards, and providing training, education and assistance. For more information, visit http://www.osha.gov.
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Subcontractor Sentenced for Violating an OSHA Regulation Causing Death to an Employee

         DALLAS —Design Plastering West LLC, a New Mexico domestic limited liability company (LLC), was sentenced today before United States District Judge Ed Kinkeade of an Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) violation causing death to an employee, announced U.S. Attorney Erin Nealy Cox of the Northern District of Texas.  As a part of Design Plastering West LLC’s sentencing, the company was ordered to pay a $150,000 criminal fine and $100,000 civil penalty, admit to eight willful violations of OSHA regulations, and be monitored for four years by an OSHA compliance expert.
            
          According to court documents filed, on May 24, 2018, Design Plastering West LLC pled guilty to a one-count information. 

          Design Plastering West LLC, a subcontractor, contracted to complete work at the Maple District Loft, a project in Dallas, Texas.  Design Plastering West LLC employed Jorge Carrion Torres to complete stuccowork.  On May 14, 2015, Mr. Torres died when he fell approximately 23 feet from the third floor balcony of that project.  Design Plastering West LLC admitted the third floor balcony where Mr. Torres was working did not have the proper fall protections, such as guardrail systems, safety net systems, or personal fall arrest systems.  Design Plastering West LLC admitted to failing to provide fall protection and that such failure caused the death of Mr. Torres.
          
            The investigation was conducted by Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Kate Rumsey is in charge of the prosecution and was assisted by attorneys from the Department of Labor, Office of the Solicitor.