Negligence Led To Fall That Paralyzed Chester County Worker: OSHA

WEST CHESTER, PA – A construction worker fell 40 feet from a job site in West Chester and was paralyzed due to negligent safety practices, U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) found.

The victim, 30, had just returned from a holiday weekend on July 6, 2015, and was preparing to install gutters on new apartment and condominium buildings at 1323 West Chester Pike.

It was his first day on the job site, and his last as a builder, according to OSHA.

When a rough terrain forklift was raising the makeshift platform on which stood up to the roof, the platform toppled, and the man fell 40 feet onto the rubble below.

The results were catastrophic. The man miraculously survived, but suffered serious and permanent injuries, including paralysis from the waist down.

That platform should not have fallen, an OSHA investigation soon revealed.

“This tragedy could have been averted if these two companies had not been so careless about worker safety,” Nicholas DeJesse, director of OSHA’s Philadelphia Area Office, said in a statement. “A young man is now confined to a wheelchair because of the disregard of the employers at this site for the safety and well-being of their workers. Their actions are inexcusable and will not be tolerated.”

The victim’s employer, the Bordentown, N.J.-based High Quality Builders Inc., routinely misused front-end loaders and similar pieces of equipment to support scaffold platforms.

The company also failed to provide fall protection and did not properly train workers to recognize fall hazards. For these and other violations, OSHA issued citations for eight serious and two repeat violations, with total of $72,880 in penalties.

OSHA had already cited High Quality Builders for similar violations in March and June 2015.

This was the second fall suffered by a company employee in 2015.

The investigation also found the job site’s general contractor, TJ Ward Plumbing Heating & Commercial Services LLC of Media, to be responsible for the incident.

They were cited for eight serious violations, including lack of fall protection and the improper use of powered industrial trucks. Their violations carried a total of $24,500 in penalties.

Both companies have 15 business days to either comply with or contest the citations.

View the citations online: TJ Ward or High Quality Builders.