RRC Home Improvement Inc., a Newark, New Jersey, roofer, is facing $328,545 in Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) fines for exposing employees to falls from elevations at three North Jersey worksites, the agency announced December 10.

OSHA cited RRC Home Improvement with four willful and seven serious violations following the three inspections. Since 2017, OSHA has inspected RRC worksites five times, citing the company for failing to provide workers with fall protection and adding the employer to its Severe Violators Enforcement Program (SVEP), given the willful nature of the fall-related violations.

OSHA investigators inspected a Dover RRC worksite in June after receiving reports of employees working on a roof without fall protection. Agency investigators opened inspections at two RRC worksites in Lodi in July as part of the agency’s National Emphasis Program for Falls in Construction.

Inspectors observed RRC employees working without required fall protection. The inspections also uncovered violations involving the lack of eye protection, fire extinguishers, and head protection, as well as noncompliant pump jack scaffold poles and unsafe ladder use.

“Failing to provide and use fall protection when working at elevation–in this case on rooftops–is a disaster waiting to happen,” Lisa Levy, OSHA’s Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey, area director, said in an agency statement. “Despite being cited multiple times since 2017, RRC Home Improvement continues to disregard critical safety standards, putting workers at grave risk. Falls remain the leading cause of fatalities and serious injuries in the construction industry, making this repeated negligence unacceptable.”

Alabama sausage maker facing $103K in new OSHA fines

Dean Sausage Company Inc., an Atalla, Alabama, meat processing and packing facility, faces $103,245 in new OSHA penalties for failing to correct safety hazards identified in two inspections dating back to 2022, the agency announced December 10.

Dean Sausage Company makes and markets meat products across the southern United States under the “Dean’s” brand.

In December 2022, OSHA investigators cited Dean Sausage Company with seven serious and seven other-than-serious violations, including the following:

• Not ensuring machines had proper safety guards;
• Failing to lock out/tag out machines before maintenance and servicing;
• Using electric power and lighting installations unsafely; and
• Exposing employees to caught-in and struck-by hazards, electric shock and burns, and hazardous chemicals.

Inspectors returned to the facility in September 2023 for a follow-up inspection and again found many of the same violations. The agency cited Dean’s Sausage with nine repeat and two serious violations, as well as one other-than-serious violation.

In the July 2024 inspection, the agency cited the company with three repeat violations for not developing, documenting, and using machine-specific lockout/tagout procedures; not training employees on its lockout/tagout program; and failing to develop and implement a written hazard communication program for employees exposed to hazardous chemicals. The agency also cited two serious violations for missing electrical panel covers.

OSHA’s hazard communication and lockout/tagout standards are among its most frequently cited standards. In September, OSHA announced its hazard communication standard (29 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) §1910.1200) was its second most cited standard, cited 2,888 times in fiscal year (FY) 2024, and the lockout/tagout standard (§1910.147) was the fifth most cited standard, cited 2,443 times.

“Dean Sausage Company’s repeated disregard for worker safety shows a troubling priority of profits over people,” Joel Batiz, OSHA’s Birmingham, Alabama, area office director, said in a statement. “The company must correct its disturbing workplace safety failures before an employee suffers a needless injury or worse. The people who work there every day to help put food on our tables deserve better, and we will continue to hold the employer accountable until they make safety a priority.”
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