Fall protection would have saved worker.

The US Department of Labor finds that fall protection would have saved a roof worker who fatally fell through a skylight at the Milton airport in October 2022.

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Porter Roofing Contractors fined for four violations, failed to protect workers from falls.

PENSACOLA, FL – An unaware 59-year-old roofing worker, working on top of a hangar at the Milton Airport on October 25, 2022, stepped on a skylight and its sudden collapse caused the worker to fall 25 feet to the ground. concrete floor below. The injured worker died four days later.

The US Department of Labor, through the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), initiated an inspection at Peter Prince Field Airport and determined that Porter Roofing Contractors Inc. failed to ensure that the 13-member team that was working on the roof that day to use fall protection as required by federal law. The skylight was being prepared for removal as part of the project.

OSHA also found that the company failed to regularly inspect work sites, materials, and equipment, exposing workers to electrical hazards, shocks, and falls, and failed to report a work-related employee hospitalization to OSHA within 24 hours.

OSHA issued a citation to Porter Roofing Contractors for four serious violations with $53,797 in proposed penalties.

"Porter Roofing Contractors made a fatal decision by ignoring federal fall protection standards and costing a worker his life," said OSHA Area Director Jose Gonzalez in Mobile, Alabama. “Falls are one of the leading causes of serious injury and death in the construction industry. There is simply no excuse for a company not to make sure every worker is properly equipped and trained," Gonzalez added.

In 2021, the number of work-related deaths in Florida was 315, an increase from the previous year. Falls, slips and trips were the second most frequent fatal event with 69 deaths.

The employer was also inspected by South Carolina OSHA in May 2019 and issued a citation for failure to use fall protection, which became a final order on September 23, 2019.

The company has 15 business days from receipt of your citations and penalties to comply, request an informal conference with the OSHA area director, or challenge the findings before the Independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission. Learn more about OSHA and fall protection.