OSHA fines Appleton roofing contractor for exposing workers to fall hazards

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Safety inspectors have fined an Appleton-based contractor for hundreds of thousands of dollars in additional penalties for leaving roof workers at risk for falls, officials said.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration announced Tuesday it gave additional fines to Hector Able Hernandez, owner of Town City Construction, for a total of $349,371 after inspectors saw employees working at heights greater than six feet without protection at several job sites in May and June.

The agency proposed $633,500 in penalties to Hernandez after it found similar violations during 16 inspections since 2004, officials said. Hernandez allegedly left the previous fines unpaid.

Inspectors saw workers use pneumatic nail guns without eye protection, work on roofs without fall protection and working under a roofline without head protection at different job sites in Greenville and Appleton in May and June, an OSHA report showed. Hernandez employed 15 workers at two sites for around two weeks when inspectors saw the violations, officials added.

The owner “continually puts vulnerable workers at risk by blatantly ignoring federal workplace safety laws that help protect workers from serious and sometimes fatal injuries,” OSHA Appleton Area Director Robert Bonack said in a statement. The office conducted more than 150 inspections of roofing contractors in 2022, primarily in Outagamie County after severe storms in April.

A total of 1,008 construction workers died on the job in 2020 and 351 of those deaths related to falls from elevation, a Bureau of Labor Statistics report showed.