Two federal workplace safety investigations have found a Chicago-area framing contractor — already facing debt collection for more than $100,000 in fines for violations dating back to infractions in 2022 — continuing to expose employees to deadly fall hazards.

KW Framing, based in Justice, Ill., around 25 miles southwest of Chicago, continues to defy the U.S. Department of Labor's requests for documents and information related to the contractor’s business and workers' safety and health.

In a news release at the end of last month, the Labor Department said inspectors with the department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration observed employees working at heights up to 30 feet without fall protection on Jan. 29 at a residential construction site in nearby River Grove.

OSHA inspectors reported witnessing employees of KW Framing without required protective equipment while they erected exterior walls on structures two to three stories high. During the visit, inspectors reminded the employer of their responsibility for protecting workers from fall hazards.

When inspectors returned to the site on Feb. 9 and Feb. 12, they again found workers exposed to similar fall hazards as they set joists and trusses. Wojciech Knapczyk, a company management official, dismissed the concerns of OSHA inspectors.

On May 7, 2024, OSHA visited another KW Framing worksite in the same residential development and found, once again, the company allowing employees to sheath a more than 30-foot-high roof without the required fall protection.

As a result of the January and May inspections, OSHA cited KW Framing for one repeat violation for failure to provide eye protection and two willful citations for its lack of fall protection. 

As first reported by Chicago Construction magazine, the site supervisor told OSHA inspectors on July 18, “The show must go on.” The supervisor then directed employees to keep setting joists at heights up to 48 feet atop a multi-unit residential building in River Grove.

When the general contractor became aware of the condition, the workers were removed from the roof, the release stated.

The agency cited the company for four serious and two other-than-serious violations: not having guardrails or stair rails, misusing ladders, failing to ensure employers wore head protection, and not maintaining records or certification that employees received fall protection training.

OSHA has proposed $317,644 in penalties.

"By refusing to comply with federal safety regulations and dismissing the concerns of OSHA inspectors, KW Framing is putting the lives of its employees in jeopardy," said OSHA's Chicago North Area Director Sukhvir Kaur in Arlington Heights, Ill. 

"Falls from elevation are the leading cause of work-related deaths in the construction industry, and yet this company is more concerned about profit than its workers' well-being," Kaur continued.

To date, the company has not responded to OSHA's 2022 citations or tried to pay $117,843 in penalties assessed, which has led the department to seek debt collection.

"If KW Framing believes ignoring OSHA will somehow relieve them of their legal responsibility for providing a safe work environment, they will find that the Department of Labor intends to use all possible means to hold the company and its management accountable," Kaur added.

KW Framing has 15 days from receipt of the OSHA notification letter, which may be seen here and dated July 25, 2024, to respond to the agency.