Custom Tower LLC of Scott, La., has been cited by the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) for one willful safety violation following the death of a worker who fell approximately 125 feet while attempting to install a microwave dish on a cellular tower along Highway 149 in Louise. OSHA initiated the August inspection in response to the fatality.
The willful violation involves the employer failing to ensure that workers wore and used fall protection equipment properly while working from heights greater than six feet. A willful violation is one committed with intentional, knowing or voluntary disregard for the law's requirements or with plain indifference to worker safety and health.
OSHA's fall prevention campaign provides employers and workers with lifesaving information and educational materials about working safely from ladders, scaffolds and roofs. It was developed in partnership with the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health and NIOSH's National Occupational Research Agenda program. More information on fall protection standards is available in English and Spanish at http://www.osha.gov/stopfalls.
Custom Tower LLC designs, manufactures, installs and repairs cellular towers. Proposed penalties total $50,400.
The company has 15 business days from receipt of the citations to comply, request an informal conference with OSHA's Jackson area director, or contest the citations and penalties before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.
