Twice during summer 2023, Occupational Safety and Health Administration inspectors found R&R Construction Services Inc., Palatine, Ill., did not provide roofing employees with required fall protection, exposing them to fall hazards, according to OSHA. The company is not an NRCA member.
The safety violations by Ricardo Gallardo—operating as R&R Construction Services—are the fifth and sixth times since 2019 that OSHA inspectors discovered the company violating federal regulations for protecting workers from falls.
On June 15, 2023, OSHA inspectors opened an investigation after observing eight roofing workers without fall protection at heights exceeding 6 feet at a residential home worksite in Palos Heights, Ill. On July 18, 2023, inspectors observed crews again working without required protection on a residential roof in Joliet, Ill.
OSHA inspectors also learned the company did not train employees regarding the use of fall protection and failed to provide workers using pneumatic hammers with required eye protection.
After the June and July inspections, OSHA cited the company for one willful violation and four repeat violations and assessed $275,869 in penalties.
OSHA cited Gallardo for not providing fall protection in 2019, 2020 and 2021. Before the 2023 inspections, the company owed $163,199 in unpaid OSHA penalties.
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