After Roofer Plunges 30 Feet, Safety Lapses Under Scrutiny

As OSHA opens a case, questions swirl over whether basic guardrails or harnesses were ever part of the jobsite plan

Emergency responders responded to a call at Holicong Middle School in Buckingham Township, Pa., on June 21 after a 58-year-old contractor fell 30 feet during routine repairs. Federal investigators from OSHA are examining whether required fall-protection measures were in place.
— Image courtesy of Homes.com

A 58-year-old roofing contractor died Saturday after falling about 30 feet from the roof of Holicong Middle School, located in Bucks County, Pa., about 35 miles north of downtown Philadelphia, authorities said, as federal investigators determine whether proper safety measures were in place.

Central Bucks School District officials said emergency responders arrived just after 4 p.m. on June 21 to find Jose Morales of Adelphi, Md., unresponsive on the ground.

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He was pronounced dead shortly after by the Bucks County Coroner’s Office, which ruled his death accidental and identified the cause as blunt impact injuries.

Federal regulations require employers to report work-related fatalities to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration within eight hours; OSHA then has up to six months to complete its investigation and decide whether to issue citations.

The agency confirmed it has opened a case but provided no further details.

Roofing work on low-slope roofs like the one at Holicong Middle School falls under OSHA’s Construction Standards in Title 29 of the Code of Federal Regulations.

The safety minimum standards require that workers six feet or more above a lower level be protected by guardrail systems, safety nets, personal fall arrest systems, warning lines or a combination thereof.

If conventional fall protection is infeasible or creates a greater hazard, employers must implement a site-specific fall protection plan that meets the same standards.

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District spokesperson Mike Petitti said Morales was employed by a contractor hired for routine roofing repairs.

“It was a single-person accident,” he told Patch.com. “No district staff or students were involved, and there was no risk to school personnel or children.” He added that the district extends its deepest sympathies to Morales’s family.

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Bryan Gottlieb is the online editor at Engineering News-Record (ENR).

Gottlieb is a five-time Society of Professional Journalists Excellence in Journalism award winner with more than a decade of experience covering business, construction, and community issues. He has worked at Adweek, managed a community newsroom in Santa Monica, Calif., and reported on finance, law, and real estate for the San Diego Daily Transcript. He later served as editor-in-chief of the Detroit Metro Times and was managing editor at Roofing Contractor, where he helped shape national industry coverage.

Gottlieb covers breaking news, large-scale infrastructure projects, new products and business.