The The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) ended the year with a refreshed perspective on roofing worker safety, opting to replace the Clinton-era safeguards with a more robust directive to protect against falling accidents during residential construction jobs.
According to Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health Dr. David Michaels, “Fatalities from falls are the number one cause of workplace deaths in construction.”
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that an average of 40 workers are killed each year as a result of falls from residential roofs, and one-third of those deaths represent Latino workers, who often lack sufficient access to safety information and protections.
OSHA’s new directive requires that all residential construction employers comply with 29 Code of Federal Regulations 1926.501(b)(13), which will no longer allow certain employers to use alternative methods of fall protection in lieu of conventional fall protection. To view the directive and for more information, visit http://www.osha.gov/doc/residential_fall_protection.html.
Source:
US Labor Department’s OSHA acts to protect residential roofing workers, U.S. Department of Labor News Release, December 22, 2010
Contact the Massachusetts work injury lawyers at Altman & Altman if you have been injured on the job.