After Second Death by Fall in 3 Years, New York Roofer Faces Potential $1.3M Penalty

A Nanuet, New York roofing and siding contractor with a history of safety violations and penalties now faces an additional $1,343,363 in penalties after the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration said it investigated another fatal fall by a company employee, the second in three years.

OSHA opened an inspection of ALJ Home Improvement Inc. on Feb. 8, 2022, when OSHA says a worker fell from the roof of a three-story residential construction project in Spring Valley. In February 2019, another company employee died in a fall at a Kiamesha Lake work site, according to OSHA.

The workplace safety agency said it determined that ALJ “failed to provide fall protection training or ensure effective fall protection safeguards” were used. The firm also failed to provide eye protection for employees using pneumatic nail guns, exposing them to the risk of serious eye injuries, according to OSHA.

According to OSHA, the employer knew of the fall and eye protection requirements. In total, ALJ Home Improvement was cited for nine willful and three serious violations.

Since 2019, OSHA said it has inspected ALJ Home Improvement six times, issuing 21 violations and levying $299,425 in fines. Its infractions include multiple willful fall protection and eye protection violations, cited most recently in November 2021.

“ALJ Home Improvement continues to ignore the law and callously exposes its employees to falls from elevation, the construction industry’s deadliest hazard,” said OSHA Regional Administrator Richard Mendelson in New York.

ALJ Home Improvement, which works throughout New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, has 15 business days from receipt of its citations and penalties to comply, request an informal conference with OSHA, or contest the findings.

Topics New York