A California roofing company that’s been investigated and cited for fall hazards on six different occasions over the past four years has done it again.
“California Premier Roofscapes has repeatedly put its workers at risk of potentially deadly falls from heights, disregarding basic safety requirements to protect its employees,” said Cal/OSHA Chief Juliann Sum. The agency has cited California Premier Roofscapes, Inc. for repeat violations of fall protection safety orders and proposed $134,454 in penalties.
Cal/OSHA opened the most recent inspection of the Escondido-based company in August of 2017 after receiving a report that workers were not wearing proper fall protection while installing tiles on the roof of a three-story Chula Vista home. Inspectors found that the company failed to ensure that its workers were wearing safety harnesses and other personal fall protection. Additionally, employees were not properly trained on fall protection and roof work hazards.
Cal/OSHA issued citations to California Premier Roofscapes for four violations including:
• One repeat-serious violation for failing to ensure that workers were wearing fall protection.
• One repeat general violation for failing to effectively implement and maintain a written Injury and Illness Prevention Program.
• Two general violations for not inspecting equipment prior to each use and inadequate training on fall hazards and protection.
The first inspection with California Premier Roofscapes was opened in October 2014 after Cal/OSHA received a complaint that employees were working on an Irvine roof with no fall protection. Cal/OSHA inspected a California Premier Roofscapes’ residential construction site in Azusa the following day after receiving a complaint involving an unsafe portable ladder. The following month, Cal/OSHA investigated an accident involving a worker who suffered serious head and knee injuries after falling 15 feet from a ladder attached to scaffolding at a Carlsbad residential construction site. In June 2015, Cal/OSHA opened an inspection and cited California Premier Roofscapes for a repeat serious violation after workers with no fall protection were reported on the roof of an Irvine construction site. In March of the following year, Cal/OSHA inspected a report that California Premier Roofscapes’ workers wore harnesses but were not properly tied off to prevent falls from the roof of a Tustin construction site. California Premier Roofscapes was cited for two repeat violations, one serious and one general category.
Falls are the leading cause of death in construction nationwide. In California’s roofing industry, falls have caused nine deaths and 162 serious injuries since 2014. All employers in California are required to have an effective written injury and illness prevention program, a safety program to identify, assess and control hazards in the workplace.
