The U.S. Department of Labor and a Newark roofing contractor have reached a settlement agreement following investigations that revealed safety violations at two worksites. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) initially investigated RRC Home Improvement Inc. in June 2024 at a worksite in Dover, New Jersey, after reports surfaced of employees working on a roof without fall protection. In July 2024, further investigations were conducted at RRC worksites in Lodi as part of OSHA's National Emphasis Program for Falls in Construction. Inspectors observed employees working without the required fall protection and found additional violations, including the absence of hard hats, eye protection, fire extinguishers, non-compliant pump jack scaffold poles, and unsafe ladder use.
The settlement agreement between OSHA and RRC Home Improvement confirms the citations issued after the 2024 inspections, which included four willful and seven serious violations. The company has agreed to pay a $155,000 penalty.
As part of the settlement terms, RRC Home Improvement will implement enhanced abatement measures. These include reporting all jobsites to OSHA before starting work and providing OSHA with a written site-specific fall protection plan for each worksite. The plan must certify that all employees have completed a fall protection training course.
