Fatality Case Study, Multi-Employer, Residential Construction

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Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Dallas Area Office

Summary Statement

Presentation on safety hazards in residential construction, including OSHA policies and citations, typical hazards, and handling sub-contractors.
Feb 2003

This was presented to the 13th Annual Construction Safety Conference: Building a Safer Nation, February 2003, in Rosemont, Illinois, by OSHA compliance officer Mimi Thaung of the Dallas area office.


PRESENTATION OVERVIEW
  • Background Information on the Case
    • Scope of Activities
    • Residential Construction
    • Multi-Employer Policy
    • Language Barrier (Non-English Speaking employees)
  • OSHA Citations Issued
  • Lessons Learned
SCOPE OF ACTIVITY
  • RESIDENTIAL CONSTRUCTION
    • Custom, single-family home builder/owner, 700 employees
    • Construction of custom home, 4297square foot and 33 feet, 7-inch in height
  • Primary Framing Subcontractor
    • Husband and wife business
  • Secondary Framing Subcontractor
    • Work crew of six employees
    • One employee was handing a rafter from the second floor, to a coworker, who was standing on the frame work of the attic. Employee fell 10-foot, 3-inches through floor opening along with the 2'x8'x20'' rafter
  • Safety Guardrail System Company














RESIDENTIAL CONSTRUCTION

Applicable OSHA Standards
  • 29 CFR 1926.501(b)(13), Subpart M - Fall Protection
  • STD 3-0.1A Interim Fall Protection Compliance Guidelines for Residential construction
Definition:

Working environment, materials, methods and procedures are same as those used in building a typical single-family home or townhouse.
  • Materials
    • Wood framing (not steel or concrete); wooden floor joists and roof surfaces
  • Methods
    • Traditional wood frame construction techniques
  • Construction of discrete part of a large commercial building, such as wood frame, shingled entranceway
  • Four groups of residential construction activities:
    • Group 1 to Group 4
  • Fatality Rate (in Region VI, DAO):
    • 81% from falls in construction
  • Number of non-English speaking (in Region VI, DAO):
    • At least 57% in construction, more in residential construction
Hazards Associated with Fatalities

Graph: Falls has the highest amount of fatalities



OSHA Multi-Employer Policy
  • General Contractor
    • Controlling
    • Creating
  • Primary Framing Subcontractor
    • Correcting
  • Secondary Framing Subcontractor
    • Creating
    • Exposing
    • Correcting
Non-English Speaking Workforce
  • Growing number of non-English Speaking workforce in construction
  • Lack of communication regarding safety procedures and policies
  • Many employers have not tailored company safety and health policies and safety training to adequately train non-English speaking employees
  • No efficient methods to report safety hazards and concerns to the employer
  • Employers hire employees based upon inexpensive labor, not on prior job experience
  • Most Non-English Speaking work force has no prior knowledge of OSHA
  • Non-English speaking employees, who have never worked in this country
OSHA Citations Issued

GENERAL CONTRACTOR
29 CFR 1926.501 (b)(13)
29 CFR 1926.1052 (c)(1)

PRIMARY FRAMING SUBCONTRACTOR
29 CFR 1926.501 (b)(13)
29 CFR 1926.1052 (c)(1)

SECONDARY FRAMING SUBCONTRACTOR
29 CFR 1926.25 (a)
29 CFR 1926.100 (a)
29 CFR 1926.501 (b)(13)
29 CFR 1926.501 (c)
29 CFR 1926.1052 (c)(1)

Abatement
  • GENERAL CONTRACTOR
    • Insured the installation of guardrail system along stairway, balcony and floor opening
    • Assist their subcontractors with the development of a detailed fall protection plan
  • PRIMARY FRAMING SUBCONTRACTOR
    • Participated in a Spanish 10-hour construction safety course sponsored by OSHA
  • SECONDARY FRAMING SUBCONTRACTOR
    • Sent all of his employees to the Spanish 10-hour construction safety course taught by bilingual OSHA compliance safety and health officers






Lessons Learned
  • Review company safety programs and policies with all subcontractors before starting work
  • Hold safety meetings with all subcontractors before the start of each phase or on a routine basis
  • Establish effective communication with non- English speaking work crew Need to perform documented, routine safety inspections and communicate hazards with all parties who may be exposed.
  • Follow up requested safety services, in this case, from Safety Guardrail Systems Company
  • Insure safety and health measures are handled in a timely manner and taken beginning of each construction phase.
EFFORTS of OSHA DALLAS AREA OFFICE for FY01 & FY02
  • Established a Task Force consisting of framing and general contractors
  • Obtained 150 % employer participation from other states to develop a uniform fall protection plan
  • Developed a 10-hour Construction Safety and Health Training
  • Conduct the 10-hour Construction Safety and Health Training in both Spanish and English, on a monthly basis