SAVOY, Ill. (WAND) — Inspectors with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration say that a local contractor was found exposing employees to falls during their work framing houses under construction in Savoy.
Inspectors observed Elmer Miller’s employees, operating as Miller Building Systems LLC, standing, climbing and walking about the roofs, beams and top plates while framing homes without any protection from falling, sometimes at heights greater than 18 feet above the ground at the Prairie Meadows subdivision on June 26 and July 26, 2023.
In a release, OSHA said that inspectors were met with hostility when they approached the worksite. OSHA cited three willful and four serious violations and proposed $278,452 in penalties due to both inspections this summer.
OSHA currently has five other inspections with Elmer Miller that the agency opened in August, October and November 2023.
“Preventable falls remain the construction industry’s leading cause of death and injuries,” said OSHA Area Director Edward Marshall in Peoria, Illinois. “Elmer Miller’s repeated failure to follow federal workplace safety rules shows a disturbing disregard for his employee’s lives and well-being.”
OSHA said that Miller and companies he operates have been cited 20 times, "including repeat violations and willful violations, and assessed more than $900,000 in penalties, most of which has not been paid." Most of the violations related to fall hazards while building roofs.
Falls remain the construction industry’s leading cause of death.
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