Construction death results in jail for employer
The owner of a construction company in Indiana has been sentenced to four months in prison for willfully violating occupational safety and health standards that lead to the death of an employee.
Roy G. Stoops, owner of C&S Erectors in Noblesville, IN, pleaded guilty to charges stemming from a May 1, 1996, incident in which 32-year-old Brian Smith of Greenwood, IN, fell to his death while laying steel decking on a roof approximately 35 feet above the ground at a site in Jonestown, PA.
After an investigation by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) in Washington, DC, the case was referred to the Department of Justice for criminal prosecution.
Judge J. Andrew Smyser of the U.S. District Court in Harrisburg, PA, ordered Stoops to pay $6,000 in restitution to Smith’s estate to cover funeral expenses. C&S Erectors also was sentenced to one-year probation and held jointly liable for the restitution. After the four-month prison sentence, Stoops will be on a one-year supervised release program.
OSHA records indicated that C&S Erectors engaged in several unsafe practices at the Jonestown work site, and the project’s general contractor warned Stoops and the company several times about hazards, including the lack of fall protection. The company had what OSHA calls a "substantial" history of OSHA violations.
In addition to the criminal prosecution, OSHA issued citations against the company totaling $396,200.
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