Painting Company Cited for 30 Violations, Fined $199,000 Following Fall Fatalities

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April 27 — Two painters killed in a fall in Ohio might have survived if they had been provided safety equipment, according to the Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which has issued proposed fines of $199,000.

The painters, who worked for V&T Painting LLC, died when an electric suspension scaffold failed and they fell from a Southwest Ohio Regional Water District water tower they were painting in Butler County, OSHA said in a statement April 22.

Following the October 2014 deaths, OSHA investigators identified 17 serious safety violations at the site, as well as 13 others at a nearby V&T Painting work site.

At the time of their deaths, the painters weren't wearing safety harnesses, the Butler County Sheriff's Office said. They fell about 100 feet.

Ken Montgomery, OSHA's Cincinnati-area director, said in the prepared statement that "making sure protective equipment is in use and working properly is a common-sense way to save lives and prevent injuries. Companies that put their workers dangerously high above the ground must provide protection to stop their falls."

OSHA inspectors found that, apart from failing to protect its workers from falls, V&T used scaffolds that weren't designed by a competent person; the scaffolds' U-bolts weren't installed correctly; and damaged wire ropes, slings, electrical cords and other faulty equipment were in use.

In addition, the company didn't inspect rigging equipment and scaffolds before use or conduct regular job-site inspections, OSHA said. The company also failed to train workers about fall protection equipment and standards.

Suspension scaffold support devices didn't rest on surfaces capable of supporting at least four times the load imposed on them, the agency found, nor were they inspected for visible defects by a competent person before each work shift.

OSHA has directed the Farmington Hills, Mich., company to correct all of its serious safety violations by June 2.

V&T Painting declined to comment to Bloomberg BNA on the citations.

OSHA said falls continue to be a leading cause of death for construction workers.

To contact the reporter on this story: Bebe Raupe in Cincinnati at braupe@bna.com

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Jim Stimson at jstimson@bna.com

Source: Bloomberg BNA