OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH
APPEALS BOARD
Summary of RGW Construction, Inc. - DAR
An employee climbing a retaining wall fell 20-25 feet and was seriously injured.
The employee had a personal fall arrest system on but the lanyard was not secured.
The Division cited Employer for a serious violation of section 1670(f) because
the lanyard not secured. The foreman had seen the employee working one minute
before with the lanyard secured but under Employer's policy the employee only
had to tie off when working, not "accessing" the work site. Section
1670(f) has no accessing exception. Employer’s policy permitted accessing
without tying off so Employer either knew or could have known that the employee
would "access" the site without tying off. The Board found that the
serious classification was correct.