False statements lead to prison for employers
It’s not nice to lie to OSHA. Two company officials of LeMaster Steel Erectors, an Elkhart, IN, steel erecting company, recently were sentenced to prison following guilty pleas to charges that they made false statements to investigators from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration during the investigation of the death of an employee in Mason, OH, in 1996.
Officials of the company previously entered a guilty plea on behalf of the corporation to a charge that the firm willfully violated federal fall protection regulations and caused the death of the worker. Company Safety Director Michael Onyon, 44, of Goshen, IN, and Jay Holloman, 41, the West Chester, OH, regional manager for LeMaster, were each sentenced to six months imprisonment, three years supervised probation, and fined $2,000 by U.S. District Court Judge Sandra Beckwith.
In addition to the sentences for the company officials, LeMaster Steel was fined $300,000 and placed on five years probation, the maximum allowed by law. Terms of that probation include that the company must notify OSHA when opening any new job site and must conduct a job site safety analysis at each site. Additionally, the firm must adhere to stricter fall protection measures. OSHA standards call for fall protection at 25 feet for steel erection. LeMaster must take fall protections measures at six feet above the ground.
The charges against Holloman, Onyon, the firm, and site foreman Ronald Lee Creighton, 38, of Sardinia, OH, stemmed from the Aug. 9, 1996, death of a construction worker at a Mason, OH, site who fell more than 25 feet from the roof of the building under construction and died when he hit the concrete foundation below. On July 14, Creighton pled guilty to making false statements to OSHA investigators. On Oct. 22, Creighton received a sentence of four months in prison, three years supervised release, and $1,100 in fines.
The false statements concerned indications that fall protection was in place prior to the accident when in fact it was installed after the accident occurred in an effort to mislead OSHA inspectors.
"This is a particularly tragic and flagrant case where the employer not only failed to adequately protect its workers, but then tried to deceive OSHA in the investigation of a fatality," says Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health Charles N. Jeffress. "OSHA did not hesitate to seek criminal prosecution, and we will continue to seek prosecution in any case where an employer deliberately lies to us."
Regional Administrator Michael G. Connors of Chicago adds that "the case underscores the need to ensure that proper fall protection and safety equipment is provided and the need for all employers and employer representatives to be forthright and honest during any OSHA or other government inspection or investigation."
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