A suburban contractor already facing debt collection for two-year-old safety violations has been cited for alleged safety hazards again by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the agency said in a news release Monday.
Earlier this year, OSHA inspectors repeatedly observed employees of the contractor, KW Framing Inc., working from heights of more than 30 feet without required fall protection, according to citations issued by OSHA last week.
Another citation alleges workers were found operating nail guns without eye protection. The contractor was also cited for allowing employees to work underneath active carpentry work without wearing helmets, according to the citations.
OSHA also cited the contractor for misusing ladders and not having guardrails. The citations were all issued for alleged violations at sites in suburban River Grove.
In a statement, Sukhvir Kaur, area director for OSHA in Arlington Heights, said KW Framing was “putting the lives of its employees in jeopardy.”
“Falls from elevation are the leading cause of work-related deaths in the construction industry, and yet this company is more concerned about profit than its workers’ well-being,” Kaur said. The agency said that according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, more than 1,000 construction workers died on the job in 2022, with more than 400 of those deaths tied to falls from elevations, trips and slips.
OSHA has proposed more than $317,000 in penalties for the violations. The company has about two weeks to either comply with the citations, request an informal conference with OSHA’s area director or contest the findings with the agency.
A representative for KW Framing did not comment Monday.
The contractor is also facing debt collection for more than $100,000 in penalties tied to citations issued in 2022, OSHA said. At the time, a site supervisor for the contractor allegedly said, “The show must go on,” before directing workers to “keep setting joists at heights up to 48 feet atop a multi-unit residential building,” the agency said in a news release at the time.
Workers were removed from the building’s roof after the general contractor became aware of the working conditions, OSHA said.
OSHA said KW Framing had not yet responded to the citations issued against it two years ago, saying the company was “defying the U.S. Department of Labor’s requests for documents and information related to the contractor’s business and workers’ safety and health.”
“If KW Framing believes ignoring OSHA will somehow relieve them of their legal responsibility for providing a safe work environment, they will find that the Department of Labor intends to use all possible means to hold the company and its management accountable,” Kaur said.