WAlter Visage在W.W.使用的匹兹堡制造大楼外的街道上的一辆汽车中。帕特森(Paterson)是牵引和起重设备的制造商,当时他在屋顶上发现某人。那是2020年1月9日上午8点,屋顶上的人似乎没有任何降落的安全带或周边屏障。

美国职业安全与健康管理局的合规官Vivage停了下来,开始拍照。

地面上的其他工人正在准备使用起重机。然后,VISAGE在屋顶的另一部分发现了另一名工人约125英尺。

W.W.帕特森(Paterson)雇用了位于宾夕法尼亚州坎森堡的大型屋顶承包商Centimark,以取代匹兹堡里弗斯路870号的四个相互连接屋顶的部分。屋顶的一部分被陡峭地俯仰。其他人则是低矮的。

VISAGE发现该公司的实践需要并违反了OSHA跌倒保护规则。在两周后进行了后续检查后,OSHA发表了两项引文,指控两项严重违规,其中一项是重复违规。

The issue being contested by CentiMark is whether it was already in the process of doing roofing work, when all the OSHA fall-protection rules would have to be observed, or preparing for roofing work including setting up safety systems.

有争议的是承包商是否已经在进行屋顶工作的过程安全系统。

Centimark每年为期8亿美元,每年为家族企业,向OSHA审查委员会提出上诉,该委员会一直在处理区域行政法法官的上诉决定。

委员会的首席行政法官科维特·鲁尼(Covette Rooney)在4月通过视频会议就此事举行了听证会,并为双方提供了延期。6月,双方都提交了听证后的摘要,下个月都提交了回复摘要。

结果,鲁尼在9月下旬命令,提议撤离引文1,第1项,因为未能在陡峭的屋顶上提供护栏,网或秋季逮捕安全带,并确认第2项,作为重复违规,因为未能在低斜坡上提供跌倒保护屋顶。

The order, not yet final, is being reviewed by the full commission.

Centimark官员认为他们被错误地引用了。Centimark安全和风险副总裁Brian Raymore表示,该公司的“起重机刚到那里。其中一个人去了屋顶,看看有一个安全的地方可以发出起重机的信号。对于第二篇引文,我们是实际上将警告线放在屋顶上,他们为此引用了我们。”

Rooney ruled in the company’s favor on that aspect of the original penalties, in Raymore's view, because having a foreman wear a fall-arrest harness while setting up the safety lines himself would have required the company to install a metal plate-anchor on the roof—with 16 screws that can only be set in with a compressor.

“这叫一个检查员的exemption,” Raymore said.

但是鲁尼在提议的最终订单中对事项的描述包括许多细节,旨在表明工作超出了初始准备阶段。

For example, Rooney stated that CentiMark staff had already engaged in the pre-job inspection and had been on site for well over an hour when Compliance Officer Visage drove by.

鲁尼还指出,Centimark员工在工作中忙于工作,至少从抵达时期就得到了报酬,这些员工已将卡车放到屋顶附近,将材料装载到起重机床上,并完成了“秋季保护/安全工作计划。”此外,起重机的繁荣被提升,一名员工在工作场所附近指示交通。

"As the [compliance officer] explained," Rooney wrote in the proposed final order, "none of the people present were there for leisure purposes and had already completed various tasks that were not tangential to the roofing work but required for the roofing work to be completed."

What was happening on the roof, however, was a little different.

工头格雷格·肯特(Greg Kent)一直在陡峭的屋顶部分,为计划中的旗帜线放置锥体,该旗线将划定他认为是安全工作区的东西。第二个工头斯坦利·哈蒙(Stanley Harmon)在低矮的屋顶上,评估了他在吊装材料时可以发出起重机的位置。

目前尚不清楚委员会何时发布最终命令,因为它接受了Centimark和OSHA律师的摘要。

Centimark原则上的引文

Centimark可能会同意违规并支付罚款,从而很早就可以很早就回报了整个问题。但是,该公司正在与引用作斗争的事实使人们对它不同意OSHA的指控有多强烈。

“[The foreman who was cited] was up there clearly to inspect,” Raymore said. “It cost us a lot of money, but we felt strongly that we were in the right.”

从承包商的角度来看,整个磨难都没有意义,

雷莫尔说:“我们认为我们被不公平地引用。“我们完全合规。这就是为什么我们争夺它的原因。”