OSHA Inspection: CENTERPOINT ENERGY INC.

Issued

Feb 20, 2008

Abate by

Feb 25, 2008

Penalty

Initial $5,000 · Current $3,000 Reduced

General-duty citation text

Section 5(a)(1) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970:  The
employer did not
furnish to each of his employees a place of employment which was free from
recognized hazards
that were causing or likely to cause death or serious physical harm to
employees in that
employees were exposed to fall hazard on or about Janary 7, 2008:
Employees accessed a roof of customer and one employee walked over on
unguarded
skylight on the roof when attempting to replace a transformer on a nearby
unity pole.
Among other methods feasible and acceptable abatement methods to correct
the specific
hazardous conditions that were present on January 7, 2008, would include
the following:
a.Replacing the transformer without accessing the roof by using mechanical
equipment, such as a EZ Hanler:
b.Training employees who work on the line crews(1) to recognize and
minimize full
hazards related to working on roof. (2) review and discuss how to reduce
the fall
hazards prior to accessing a roof including but not limited to determine
whether
there is safe method of completing the task without accessing the roof and
determine what fall protection or other safety measures will be accessed
if a roof
is accessed; and (3) implement the safest identified methods of performing
the
task at issue.ming