A roofer fell more than 25 feet through an unguarded skylight to a concrete floor inside a fruit packing warehouse in Wapato, Wash., and died. Washington’s Department of Labor & Industries cited the employer, Leslie & Campbell Inc. of Union Gap, on Sept. 8 and fined it $48,803. The company is appealing both the citation and the penalty.
L&I announced the case Oct. 21 alongside five other roofing citations from this year. Three of those companies drew willful violations totaling $595,224, and all three are repeat fall protection violators.
What L&I found on the fatal skylight fall
According to the agency’s news release, nothing guarded the skylight. Investigators also found the company hadn’t identified skylights as a fall hazard and hadn’t adequately trained workers on the risk. “A worker died because their employer failed to protect them,” said Craig Blackwood, assistant director of L&I’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health.
Skylights are a familiar hazard on low-slope industrial roofs, and the fixes are cheap: a screen, a guardrail or a cover that can take the load. The fine is modest next to the other cases in the same release, which says something about how Washington penalties scale with history rather than outcome.
Repeat roofing violators and willful fall protection citations
Roof Doctor Inc. of Olympia drew the biggest penalty: $238,680, issued June 30, for four willful serious and two serious fall protection violations. Part of a roof collapsed under one of its workers in Tumwater, and L&I found his safety rope was too long. He was hospitalized. Since 2004 the company has racked up more than 80 safety violations, including 34 for failing to make workers wear fall protection, and nearly 40 fall-related injury claims. It’s appealing.
Dabella/Reve Exteriors LLC of Marysville was cited Aug. 19 for two willful serious violations and fined $176,580 for failing to protect its subcontractor’s employees from falls. Some violations were repeats. Its sub on that job, Suruka House LLC, was fined $34,668 for repeatedly failing to make sure workers used fall protection and for lacking a fall protection work plan.
Bartlett Homes & Roofing LLC of Veradale was cited June 3 for willful serious and repeat serious violations and fined $179,964. Two workers weren’t tied off, anchors weren’t installed properly and one worker’s restraint rope had too much slack. Its sub, Ivan’s Roofing Spokane LLC, was fined $37,415 for missing fall protection, unsafe ladder use and no first aid on site. Dabella/Reve and Bartlett are both appealing.
Severe Violators Enforcement and what comes next
Every company named except Suruka House and Ivan’s Roofing is in L&I’s Severe Violators Enforcement Program because of past willful fall protection violations. That means follow-up inspections and closer scrutiny. Fine money goes to the state’s workers’ compensation supplemental pension fund.
The pattern matches what Exchange saw in Oregon, where a contractor drew its sixth fall citation in two years. In several of the Washington cases, workers had gear on and it was rigged wrong: a rope too long, too much slack, a bad anchor. Dabella/Reve was cited for failing to protect its subcontractor’s crew, and that’s the lesson for anyone hiring roofers this winter. The sub’s harness can be your citation.