Deadly Fall Hazards: Repeat Offender Faces New $317K Fine

When workers aren’t protected from deadly fall hazards, OSHA issues significant penalties, as this recent case from Illinois shows.

KW Framing Inc. – a Chicago-area framing contractor – is no stranger to workplace safety violations, according to OSHA.

The agency said KW Framing was “already facing debt collection for more than $100,000 in fines for violations identified in 2022” before the most recent violations. Here’s the latest.

OSHA Inspectors Spot Fall Hazards

On Jan. 29, 2024, OSHA inspectors observed KW Framing employees working at heights up to 30 feet without fall protection at a residential construction site.

Specifically, the employees were working without the “required protective equipment while they erected exterior walls on structures two to three stories high.”

During that visit, OSHA inspectors reminded KW Framing of its responsibility to protect workers from deadly fall hazards.

On Feb. 9 and Feb. 12, OSHA inspectors returned to the site and found workers exposed to similar fall hazards as they set joists and trusses.

Wojciech Knapczyk, a management official for KW Framing, dismissed the concerns of the inspectors, according to OSHA.

Then on May 7, OSHA inspectors visited another KW Framing worksite in the same residential development and found the company allowing employees to sheath a more than 30-foot high roof without required fall protection.

Fall Hazards – Violations Rack Up 6-Figure Fine

As a result of the January and May inspections, OSHA cited KW Framing for one repeat violation for failure to provide eye protection and two willful citations for its lack of fall protection.

OSHA also cited the company for four serious and two other-than-serious violations for not having guardrails or stair rails, misusing ladders, failing to ensure employers wore head protection and not maintaining records or certification that employees received fall protection training.

The agency has proposed $317,644 in penalties.

“By refusing to comply with federal safety regulations and dismissing the concerns of OSHA inspectors, KW Framing is putting the lives of its employees in jeopardy,” OSHA’s Chicago North Area Director Sukhvir Kaur said in a press release. “Falls from elevation are the leading cause of work-related deaths in the construction industry, and yet this company is more concerned about profit than its workers’ well-being.”

OSHA Doubles Down on Outstanding Penalties

OSHA contends that a KW Framing site supervisor showed blatant disregard for deadly fall hazards at a residential worksite in 2022.

After OSHA inspectors pointed out the violations, the supervisor allegedly said “the show must go on” before directing workers to “keep setting joists at heights up to 48 feet atop a multi-unit residential building.”

For the 2022 violations, the agency cited KW Framing for one willful violation and four serious safety violations, and proposed penalties of $77,072.

In light of the repeat offenses, OSHA has noted that KW Framing “has not responded to OSHA’s 2022 citations or made an effort to pay $117,843 in penalties assessed.” As a result, the agency has moved to seek debt collection.

“If KW Framing believes ignoring OSHA will somehow relieve them of their legal responsibility for providing a safe work environment, they will find that the Department of Labor intends to use all possible means to hold the company and its management accountable,” Kaur said.

Trying to dodge compliance obligations is more common than you might expect. But — spoiler alert — that strategy rarely works out, as several companies have learned the hard way in the past year or so.

Fall Protection Resources

The good news — whether you’re in HR or a safety supervisor — is that resources are available to help protect your employees.

OSHA’s Stop Falls website offers safety information and video presentations in English and Spanish to teach workers about fall hazards and proper safety procedures.

In a nutshell, employers must set up workspaces to prevent employees from falling from overhead platforms, elevated workstations or into holes in the floor and walls.

OSHA requires fall protection be provided beginning at elevations of:

• 4 feet in general industry workplaces
• 5 feet in shipyards
• 6 feet in the construction industry, and
• 8 feet in longshoring operations.

Moreover, OSHA requires fall protection to be provided when employees are working above dangerous equipment and machinery, regardless of the fall distance.