The death of a worker in a fatal fall at a Dallas apartment complex has resulted in both criminal and civil penalties against his employer.

U.S. District Court Judge Ed Kinkeade has ordered Design Plastering West LLC to pay a $150,000 criminal fine, $100,000 civil penalty, admit to eight willful violations, and to undergo monitoring by OSHA for four years.

On May 14, 2015, a worker fell from a third floor balcony while applying stucco without fall protection. OSHA cited the company for willfully failing to install scaffolding and provide workers with personal fall protection. In May 2018, Design Plastering West LLC pleaded guilty to the willful citation on fall protection.

“This company failed to comply with well-known safety requirements,” said OSHA’s Dallas Region Acting Regional Administrator Eric Harbin. “This sentence should serve as a reminder that employers can be held criminally responsible for failing to protect their workers’ safety.”

The criminal prosecution and sentencing in this case was the result of a collaboration between OSHA, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of the Solicitor, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas.