Tag Archives: roofing hazards

Photo by Bryon Lippincott on Foter.com / CC BY-ND
Safety Violation

Cloise & Mike Construction Fined $92,000+

Cloise & Mike Construction, Inc., a firm with nearly 20 years of safety violations, has been fined more than $92,000 after a recent inspection.

The construction company has an extensive history of safety problems in Kitsap, Pierce and Grays Harbor counties. The serious safety violations found during this recent inspection included failing to enforce the use of fall protection while roofing a home under construction in Hoquiam.

The Department of Labor & Industries (L&I) opened its latest inspection of Cloise & Mike Construction, Inc. (formerly Choice & Mike Construction) after receiving an anonymous report in May that included photographs showing four employees engaged in roofing work on a steep pitch roof with no fall protection installed. 

Inspectors found that, in addition to employees working at height without proper fall protection, employees were not wearing masks or social distancing, which is a violation of COVID-19 workplace safety rules.

History of Violations

Since 2001, Cloise & Mike Construction has been cited for more than two dozen serious and repeat safety violations after being inspected 26 times. Seven of those inspections occurred in the last three years, resulting in more than $200,000 in fines.

“This isn’t a case of the company not knowing what the rules are,” said Anne Soiza, L&I assistant director for the Division of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH).

“Cloise & Mike has ignored their fall hazards, putting their workers at serious risk, for nearly two decades. We hope these substantial fines will motivate them to recognize their obligations and prevent any future tragic outcome for their workers,” said Soiza.

The violations occurred on the construction of new homes in various cities including Bremerton, Bainbridge Island, Gig Harbor, Tacoma, Lakewood and Hoquiam.

In addition to the violations mentioned above, the May inspection resulted in another eight violations:

  • no fall protection at four feet and greater while working on a steep pitch;
  • no fall protection work plan;
  • not complying with COVID-19 protections in construction;
  • training programs not effective in practice;
  • no hard hat worn while working under roofers;
  • hands not kept free while ascending a ladder;
  • ladder not extending three feet above the landing; and
  • no walk-around safety inspection
Penalties and Appeal Rights

Cloise & Mike Construction, Inc. is appealing this inspection and two others. Employers have 15 business days from the time they receive the citation from L&I to appeal.

Penalty money paid as a result of a citation is placed in the workers’ compensation supplemental pension fund, helping injured workers and families of those who have died on the job.

Safety Training and Consultations

Fall protection training and other L&I safety guides can be found on the L&I website, here. Businesses can also request a safety consultation from DOSH.

L&I’s Consultation Program offers confidential, no-fee, professional advice and assistance to Washington businesses. These services can help them find and fix hazards in the workplace and strengthen their safety program.

Business owners can call a consultant  or request an onsite consultation to schedule any of the following services:

Safety and Health Consultation

Safety or Industrial Hygiene consultants provide assistance with building your safety program, training, identifying and controlling hazards, and following applicable safety rules. No fines or penalties will result from issues uncovered during a consultation. However, consultants will ask you to correct any serious issues and offer assistance.

Risk Management Consultation

Risk management consultants can review your workplace injury history and provide a step-by-step plan to help you prevent injuries and control industrial insurance costs.

Ergonomic Consultation

Ergonomic specialists can help you find solutions to prevent sprain and strain injuries. These injuries are associated with high worker’s compensation costs.

Prior Posts on Related Topics
Worker Safety

Rotten Roof Injures Roofer in Fall Incident

Roofer Falls 20 Feet through Rotten Roof

SUMMARY

A 39-year-old roofer was severely injured when he fell 20 feet through a rotten roof. He had 22 years of experience in the roofing industry and had been with his employer, a roofing contractor, for a year.

The injured roofer was a member of a four-person crew that had been tearing-off and replacing the flat (low pitch) roof of a manufacturing storage facility for a month. On the day of the incident, they were working to remove three layers of roofing materials to check for spots of rotten roof.

Warning lines were set up near the roof’s edges and a safety monitor was used. Workers were not required to use personal fall protection while inside the warning lines. Outside of the warning lines, they were required to use a personal fall arrest system consisting of a full body harness with ropes tied-off to anchor points. Most of the visible rotten roof was in the area outside of the warning lines.

The roofer was inside the warning lines near the roof ridge using a shovel to scrape off shingles and insulation. As he stepped backward, a patch of rotten roof gave way and he fell through, landing 20 feet below on wood flooring. He was severely injured and suffered numerous fractures and internal injuries.

Investigators found that a worker had previously placed an orange cone to mark a rotten spot near where the roofer broke through the roof. The spot he fell through was three feet away from the cone and under three layers of roofing material so he was not able to recognize it was rotten. Workers had also been walking across the roof in the area for several weeks. At the time of the incident, the safety monitor was on the other side of the roof ridge throwing debris into a truck below. After the incident, the employer required workers to use a personal fall arrest system at all times.

RECOMMENDATIONS

FACE investigators concluded that, to help prevent similar occurrences, employers should:
• Erect guardrails around rotten roof areas to prevent access.
• Place a cover of standard strength and construction over localized rotten roof areas. (A sheet of
plywood would have covered the rotted deck area in this case.)
• Use scaffolds and/or elevating work platforms to access the underside of a roof to remove rotted deck when site conditions allow their use.

REQUIREMENTS

• Employers must ensure that all surfaces on which employees will be working or walking on are structurally sound and will support them safely prior to allowing employees to work or walking on them. See WAC 296-155-24605(1)
• Ensure that the appropriate fall protection system is provided, installed, and implemented when employees are exposed to fall hazards of 10 feet or more to the ground or lower level while engaging in roofing work on a low-pitched roof. See WAC 296-155-24611(1)(a)
• Prior to permitting employees to start demolition operations, you must make an engineering survey, by a competent person, of the structure to determine structural integrity and possibility of unplanned collapse of any portion of the structure. See WAC 296-155-775(1)

MORE INFORMATION

Read the full FACE Construction Injury Narrative report for this incident. For a slideshow version, intended for educational purposes, click here.

This narrative is an alert about the serious traumatic injury of a worker and is based on preliminary data ONLY and does not represent final determinations regarding the nature of the incident or the cause of the injury. Developed by the WA State Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (FACE) Program and the Division of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH), WA State Dept. of Labor & Industries. The FACE Program is supported in part by a grant from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH grant# 5U60OH008487). For more information visit the FACE website.

Read prior posts about roofing accidents:
WHY DO ROOFERS FALL FROM ROOFS? IS IT JUST BECAUSE OF GRAVITY?
MUKILTEO, WA COMPANY FINED $645,000+ FOR EXPOSING ROOFERS TO FALL HAZARDS
Workplace Accidents, workplace injury, workplace safety

Why Do Roofers Fall From Roofs? Is it just because of gravity?

Today’s post comes from guest author Jon Gelman from Jon Gelman, LLC – Attorney at Law.

This is a timely post as I just received notice that the Department of Labor and Industries investigated a fraud case against an employer in Lake Stevens, WA that did not cover his employees for workers’ compensation. This was not the first time the Department had contact with this employer for this same issue, either. This time, charges were filed and the employer was sentenced to sixty days in jail, converted to house arrest.

Roofers, of all workers, need their workers’ compensation coverage!

Today I received an urgent call from attorney representing a client in New Jersey who fell from a roof. Before she told me the job description of the injured worker, now in a coma, I correctly anticipated that it was probably a roofer who had fallen from a roof, yet again.

This scenario has played out in workers’ compensation claims for decades. How the accident happened is usually an argument with the employer. The employer claims that the employee was either intoxicated or not following safety precautions. My instinct always tell me that this is probably incorrect, since roofers tend to lose their balance and fall for many other reasons, including “gravity.”  Some reason a deprivation of oxygen and/or exposure to toxic neurological irritants contained in the roofing materials, and weather related events that make roofs slippery.

Continue reading Why Do Roofers Fall From Roofs? Is it just because of gravity? →