Court Upholds Fall and Scaffolding Violations Issued to Bridge Painting Contractor

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upheld a 1997 decision by the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC) for citations issued to a bridge painting contractor for fall and scaffolding violations.

During a compliance inspection in 1993 at the Jeremiah Morrow Bridge deleading and repainting project near Cincinnati, Ohio, an OSHA compliance officer cited a painting contractor for failing to have guard rails on a painter's pick, and failing to have a safety net beneath the pick.

Four years later, when OSHRC affirmed that decision (see an earlier SSPC Online article), the contractor petitioned for judicial review, arguing that the regulations in place at the time did not apply. OSHA had not implemented specific fall protection regulations covering the bridge painting industry, so the general fall protection and scaffold regulations applied.

The painting contractor argued its fall protection was adequate. He also maintained that picks were, in effect, catenary scaffolds, which were addressed in regulations issued in 1996 as a separate category.

The court denied the contractor's argument, stating that catenary scaffolds are defined as platforms suspended between two horizontal cables. The contractor's picks had one end resting on a permanent catwalk and the other resting on a horizontal cable and did not fit the definition. Even if they had, regulations at the time required such scaffolds to have guardrails.

Source: BNA Occupational Health and Safety Reporter, December 20, 2001