OSHA Launches Month-Long Safety Awareness Campaign
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- In the last month, five construction workers fell off roofs in the Philadelphia region. One of them died. Now, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration is calling on local construction firms to take necessary safety measures for their workers.
OSHA is launching a month-long safety awareness campaign called GRIIP, Grassroots Injury-Illness Prevention, and it's designed to address construction site safety issues.
Nicholas DeJesse, Director of Philadelphia OSHA, says a 1970 law requires employers, including construction companies, to provide safe and healthy work places. And when workers are on a roof, there are specific safety systems.
"Railings around a structure so you can't fall off of a structure, personal fall arrest systems, which would be when individuals wear a full body harness with a lanyard and it's connected to an anchorage point," he says, "or a safety net that is put on the perimeter of the structure."
DeJesse says these systems were noticeably absent in each of these cases.
"Out of the five sites, none of these sites had these kind of protective systems implemented," he says. "All five are still under investigation actually, but there was not any type of protective system that was implemented by the employers for the employees working at these worksites."
The construction companies can be fined up to $7,000 for the infractions, but that's going up to $12,500 in August.
If residents see what they believe is a dangerous worksite, they can call OSHA at 1-800-321-OSHA, or send them an email.
