New Jersey contractor faces $1-million penalty after federal inspection finds workers exposed to falls

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New York Construction Report staff writer

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has cited a New Jersey contractor for exposing workers to fall hazards, this time while working at a construction site in Franklin Lakes, New Jersey.

OSHA initiated an inspection of Adrian Construction Group LLC in July 2023 under a local emphasis program for falls in construction and issued six willful violations for lack of fall protection and failure to ensure the use of eye protection and four serious violations for unsafe scaffolds and failure to provide hard hats for overhead hazards. The company faces a proposed penalty of $1,017,248 for these violations.

In a Feb. 12 news release, the OSHA says Adrian Construction has been inspected five times since 2016, and in each instance the company was cited for failure to provide workers with fall protection. The company has been added to the Severe Violators Enforcement Program due to the egregious nature of the fall violations.

“Adrian Construction, under the ownership of Adrian Perea, continues to show a blatant disregard for the safety of their employees,” said Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health Doug Parker. “Placing them on the list of severe violators will intensify our scrutiny of their operations.”

Adrian Construction Group LLC is a residential carpentry and framing contractor with 20 employees.

The company has 15 business days from receipt of its citations and penalties to comply, request an informal conference with OSHA’s area director, or contest the findings before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that 1,069 construction workers died on the job in 2022, with 395 of those fatalities related to falls from elevations. Exposure to fall hazards makes residential framing and roofing work among the deadliest jobs in construction.

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