On Sept. 6 at a home in Macungie, Webb Contractor Corp. workers on the ground didn’t wear head protection, failing to properly protect themselves from the roofing work going on above.
Less than a month later, on Oct. 1 at a home in Upper Milford Township, Webb Contractor employees used ladders that did not extend at least 3 feet above the upper landing surface.
Ten days later, at a work site in Bethlehem, employees from the same company performed roofing work on a steeply pitched commercial roof, at between 12 feet to 231/2 feet above grade, without using any means of fall protection.
These are among the alleged violations that have Webb Contractor, of Bala Cynwyd, Montgomery County, facing $605,371 in penalties issued by the U.S. Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration. The violations — eight willful, two repeat and three serious safety violations — were announced Tuesday by OSHA.
“Employers must ensure that employees working from heights are provided and wear proper fall protection,” Loren Sweatt, principal deputy assistant secretary of labor for Occupational Safety and Health, said in a news release. “OSHA has educational resources readily available to help employers understand how to comply with the law.”
A message left at Webb Contractor’s Bala Cynwyd office was not immediately returned. The corporation was created in October 2018, according to its articles of incorporation filed with the Pennsylvania State Department. The state paperwork is signed by Robert A. Webb, who could not be immediately reached.
Webb Contractor has 15 days to respond to the citations, and the company can comply, request an informal conference with OSHA or contest the findings.
While the violations announced Tuesday all stem from the three Lehigh Valley work sites, OSHA records indicate Webb Contractor had several more inspections throughout 2019. For example, the head injury hazard cited by OSHA at the Macungie work site in September was considered a repeat violation because Webb Contractor had been issued a violation for the same hazard at a workplace in Paupack, Pike County, in August.
Since February 2019, 23 inspections involving Webb Contractor work sites across Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York are listed in OSHA online records. Of those, 14 resulted in violations, according to OSHA records.
Morning Call reporter Jon Harris can be reached at 610-820-6779 or at jon.harris@mcall.com.
