The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has cited Shawn D. Purvis, owner of Purvis Home Improvement Co. Inc., for egregious willful, repeated, and severe place of work protection violations.
Purvis, a roofing contractor primarily based in Saco, Maine, faces a total of $1,792,726 in consequences. The enforcement action follows the loss of life in Portland, Maine, on December thirteen, 2018.
OSHA says its inspectors found that Purvis knowingly didn’t ensure the use of fall protection for his employees at the Portland worksite and a separate worksite in Old Orchard Beach, Maine.
Due to Purvis’ information on the risk and required safeguards, in the face of intensive records of violations, OSHA referred to him for thirteen egregious willful violations – one for every exposed employee in accordance with a process web page – for failing to ensure the use fall safety. Each egregious citation carries the most allowable penalty of $132,598.
OSHA also mentioned Purvis for failing to offer fall safety training to his personnel and exposing them to electrocution and eye hazards. OSHA has mentioned Purvis for seven violations of fall safety necessities considering that September 2006.
“Effective fall safety can save you tragedies like this while an enterprise guarantees the right use of legally required lifesaving safety,” says OSHA Area Director David McGuan of Augusta, Maine. “An ongoing refusal to observe the law exposes different personnel to doubtlessly fatal or disabling accidents. Employers can not keep away from their obligation to make sure a secure and wholesome worksite.”
The Portland and Old Orchard Beach citations are available online.
On April five, 2019, a Portland grand jury indicted Purvis for manslaughter and place of job manslaughter, charging that his repeated violations of OSHA’s fall protection standards precipitated the employee’s death.
OSHA gives compliance assistance resources on fall risks at the OSHA Fall Protection website.
Purvis has 15 enterprise days from receipt of the citations and proposed consequences to comply, request a casual convention with OSHA’s vocation director, or contest the findings before the impartial Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.
