DAVIE, Fla. — A Pompano Beach, Fla. roofing contractor previously cited for exposing workers to fall hazards is being cited by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) regarding the death of a 25-year-old worker due to a fall.

According to a release from OSHA, on Jan. 19, J & L Roofing Inc. allowed employees to tear off an existing roof without fall protection at a two-story residence in Davie, Fla. The worker fell from the roof onto a lower level and then to the ground. The worker succumbed to his injuries after 29 days in a hospital.

OSHA cited the company for one willful violation for exposing workers engaged in roofing activities to fall hazards without protection, and one serious violation for failing to train workers on the correct use of fall arrest systems. The agency also issued an other-than-serious violation for failing to report a work-related hospitalization within 24-hours and a fatality within eight hours as the law requires.

The agency has proposed $74,751 in penalties.

"Had J & L Roofing, Inc. ensured that its workers were protected from the construction industry’s leading cause of death, a young man's life could have been spared," said OSHA Area Office Director Condell Eastmond in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. "Instead, a family and a community are left to grieve and an employer is learning a painful lesson that federal workplace safety standards exist to help prevent needless and unnecessary tragedies."

This isn't the first time J & L Roofing was investigated for not protecting workers. In 2018, OSHA issued a citation to J & L Roofing for its failure to ensure the use of fall protection at a Tamarac, Fla. worksite.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that falls remain the leading cause of death in the construction industry, accounting for 368 fatalities in 2020, of which 39 happened in Florida. They account for about one in every three workplace fatalities.

The company has 15 business days from receipt of their citations and penalties to comply, request an informal conference with OSHA, or contest the findings before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

View the citation here.