Greater Valley Safety consulting is experienced in
providing consultative services for workers compensation carriers, liability
carriers, commercial insurance brokers and a variety of industrial commercial
and retail businesses. These services are provided by professionals that will
work with your business with the goal to identify, evaluate, and address loss
producing conditions and hazards.
The firm was founded in order to develop and build
effective safety management programs for all types of industries to reduce the
direct and indirect cost of injuries and accidents relating to workers
compensation and liability coverage's. Our main goal is to establish and
maintain meaningful and mutually beneficial business relationships with each and
every one of our clients.
Current Events in the Insurance Industry
Repeat violations cause another contractor to fall under SVEP
OSHA Severe Violator Enforcement Program is in full swing
Posted January 13, 2011
As part of a local emphasis program focused on fall hazards in construction, an OSHA inspection of a stucco contractor’s jobsite in November 2010 revealed that workers were exposed
to fall hazards while performing work at a local train station. The contractor was not only issued proposed penalties totaling $69,300, but also received citations for four repeat
violations, which placed it on OSHA’s Severe Violator Enforcement Program.
According to Patricia Jones, director of OSHA's area office in Avenel , N.J. , the contractor refused to implement proper fall protections, which reflects a careless approach to
workplace safety, leaving workers at risk of serious injury and possible death. The company is advised to take immediate steps to eliminate these hazards. Specifically, the repeat violations
are due to the company's failure to:
- Fully plank scaffold platforms
- Erect scaffolds on a firm foundation
- Provide a fall protection system and properly brace scaffolds with cross braces
The company has also been cited with a serious violation for failing to conduct frequent and regular inspections of the jobsite. A serious citation is issued when there is substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result from a hazard about which the employer knew or should have known.
Employers ordered incarcerated for failing to comply with OSHA citations, court sanctions
Predecessor and successor company owners taken into custody
Posted December 31, 2010
Recently, the predecessor and successor owners of a company specializing in masonry and stone were arrested and ordered for incarceration by the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals
in St. Louis , Missouri. The order for incarceration stems from the owners’ repeated failure to comply with court sanctions enforcing OSHA citations that had become final orders of the
Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission. The two were taken into custody by authorities on December 28, 2010.
OSHA issued numerous citations from June 2003 to the present to both the original company and its successor for willful, repeat, and serious violations related to fall hazards, scaffolding erection deficiencies, power tool guarding, and other hazards in connection with multiple St. Louis-area projects. When the companies failed to comply with the court's 11(b) order enforcing the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission's final orders, the Labor Department's Office of the Solicitor filed petitions for contempt.
As a result, a special master of the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals found the former owner and current owner in contempt and ordered various sanctions including requiring them
to pay outstanding penalties, continually accruing interest, and other miscellaneous fees amounting to $258,582. The current company and owner must pay a $100 daily penalty,
calculated from the time of default in early 2008 on the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission's final orders. The company must provide OSHA weekly notification
of all ongoing jobs and known future jobs at least 72 hours prior to commencement of work for a period of three years. The company also must provide training to all persons
currently and subsequently designated as jobsite "competent persons" prior to beginning any work and provide the department with records of such training.
