OSHA Inspection: CLEAN & POLISH MID ATLANTIC LLC

Issued

Jul 28, 2008

Abate by

Jul 31, 2008

Penalty

Initial $3,000

General-duty citation text

Section 5(a)(1) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970:  The
employer did not
furnish employment and a place of employment which were free from
recognized hazards that
were causing or likely to cause death or serious physical harm to
employees in that employees
were exposed to the hazards of falling 40 ft to the ground below from the
fourth floor:
a)Fourth Floor, South Side of The Building - A supervisor, pressure
washing the
side of the building, fell 40 feet to the ground below. Deficiencies in the
employer's work safety and fall protection plan resulted in the supervisor
falling
4 floors, including, but not limited to: failure to ensure that suspended
work was
not performed unless it was determined that the building had provided,
identified
and certified anchorages complying with Section 9 and 10 of ANSI/IWCA
I-14.-
2001 for independent safety lines and primary support anchorage for rope
descent
system for manual boatswain's chair.  Among other methods, a feasible and
acceptable abatement method to correct these hazards is as follows: 1)
Prior to
commencing suspended work, inspect the surface for structural anchorage
points
that are capable of supporting the intended loads in accordance with
ANSI/IWCA
I-14.1-2002; instruct employees in the proper use of these anchorages and
all
equipment provided them; and supervise the use of the equipment and
devices to
ensure that safe working practices are observed, on or about 04/17/18.
b)Fourth Floor, South Side of the Building - A supervisor, pressure
washing the
side of the building fell 40 ft to the ground below. The supervisor's life
line was
connected to the suspension device for the rope descent system instead of
an
independent anchor point. Both the primary safety line for the descent
control
system and employee life line were attached to the track style anchor
system. The
practice of attaching both the life line and the employee safety line of
the
supervisor's descent control system to the same anchor point exposes
employees
to the hazard of a fall since a single failure of the device could cause a
worker
to fall. Among other methods, a feasible and acceptable abatement method to
correct these hazards is as follows: 1) Use of a full body harness; rope
grab or
similar device; lifeline; and anchorage (all of which are completely
independent
of the friction device and its support seat (or harness), support line, or
anchorage
system will not affect the ability of the fall arrest system to operate
and quickly
stop the employee's fall. Use of a horizontal line attached securely to
substantial
members of the building structure could serve as a separate and independent
anchor point for the employee life line, on or about 04/17/08