Limerick's Springford Estates Fined By OSHA For Workplace Hazards

LIMERICK, PA -- Berlin Builders, a residential construction contractor with projects in Delaware, Pennsylvania and New Jersey, continues to expose its workers to dangerous falls on job sites by ignoring safety standards required by law, federal regulators have found.

After conducting separate inspections at worksites in Middletown, Delaware, and in Pennsylvania in Limerick and Perkasie, the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited the Cinnaminson-based company for two willful, nine repeat, and eight serious and one other-than-serious violations, according to a recent news release.

Berlin Builders faces a total of $385,836 in federal penalties for violations at these worksites:

• American House Building, 7th & Market St., Perkasie, Pennsylvania: $112,860
• Springford Estates, Limerick, Pennsylvania: $121,176
• Parkway at South Ridge, 318 Gaither Drive, Middletown, Delaware: $105,600
• Parkway at South Ridge, 453 Gaither Drive, Middletown, Delaware: $46,200

Workers were exposed to serious fall hazards on projects developed by Ryland Homes, LC Construction, Ryan Homes and Re-Alliance Real Estate Development, according to OSHA.

Berlin Builders was contracted to perform work on each of the listed sites. OSHA cited Berlin for fall hazards on scaffold platforms and a lack of training for those hazards, failure to provide and use fall protection, and failure to inspect the jobsite for fall and fire-related hazards.

Citations were also issued for the following violations:

• Failure to provide and use proper ladders to access a work area.
• Failure to provide fire extinguishers.
• Failure to provide covers over holes located 6 feet above the lower floor.
• Failure to develop and implement a hazard communication program.

In the past 12 months, Berlin Builders has been inspected 23 times at worksites across Pennsylvania, Delaware and New Jersey. OSHA issued citations in 16 of the inspections, resulting in penalties totaling $403,690. The citations involved similar fall hazards.

"Berlin Builders is a serial violator that callously refuses to take even the most basic steps to protect workers from falls and other serious hazards in construction, an industry among the nation's most hazardous," said Richard Mendelson, OSHA regional administrator in Philadelphia, in a statement. "Appoximately four in 10 construction workers die in falls at work. It is vital that construction companies take responsibility for protecting their workers from preventable injuries and serious hazards. No one should have to sacrifice their safety for their livelihood."

OSHA has designated May 2-6, 2016, as the third annual National Safety Stand-Down. The event is a nationwide effort to remind and educate employers and workers in the construction industry of the serious dangers of falls – the cause of the highest number of industry deaths in the construction industry.

To view the citations, visit:

http://www.osha.gov/ooc/citations/BerlinBuildersInc_1125483_1093222_03172016.pdf
http://www.osha.gov/ooc/citations/BerlinBuildersInc_1110353.pdf
http://www.osha.gov/ooc/citations/BerlinBuildersInc_1103068.pdf

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

Image courtesy US Department of Labor.