The Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission has declared a Midwest roofing contractor negligent after failing to properly address workplace safety violations and assessed full financial penalties against the company.
The commission, in a March decision made public Wednesday, found Joshua Herion and his Waukegan, Illinois-based company, ECS Roofing Professionals Inc., in bankruptcy after the company refused to comply with procedures related to safety violations issued by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
OSHA inspectors in Illinois and Wisconsin cited the company after separate site visits in October 2021 after finding numerous violations of building standards, including willful, repeated and serious violations.
OSHA proposed penalties of $360,531
, and the company, through its attorney, contested the citation.The attorney subsequently withdrew from the case, and the company stopped responding to various discovery and other requests and failed to meet required deadlines, according to the review commission.
The commission, in finding the company in default, called the case significant because it involved alleged violations of fall protection standards for roofers.
“The court does not take lightly to issue a default judgment where the consequences are so significant,” the commission wrote.
The commission assessed the total penalty of $360,531 against the company.
When OSHA issued the citations, it said workers were found exposed to fatal fall hazards at the two commercial and residential work sites because they were working high above the ground without adequate fall protection.
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