The Industrial Commission of Arizona issued a $113,500 fine to a Tucson framing contractor for willfully violating safety rules.
The company, U.S. Carpentry-Tucson, plans to contest the fine. Officials did not return phone calls seeking comment.
Through spokeswoman Rachel Brockway, the Industrial Commission and the Arizona Division of Occupational Safety and Health declined to answer questions about the case.
The median fine issued by the commission in recent years is $5,000.
The case began with a workplace safety inspector checking out an anonymous complaint about a work site in midtown near North First Avenue and East Grant Road in November.
The inspector saw two men with no fall-protection gear working on the roof of a two-story house, according to an ADOSH report.
The workers told the inspector they were not using fall protection because they were short on safety gear, the inspector’s report says.
The inspector also noted guardrails were not installed around open windows and open stairwells.
The company didn’t have a site-specific fall-protection plan, another violation.
The inspector asked the company’s safety director for a copy of the plan, and at first the director said he didn’t have a copy with him but could provide one in two days, but he later admitted there was no plan, according to the inspector’s report.
The inspector noted the company’s safety training program, accident prevention activity and communication to employees were “inadequate.”
The Legislature relaxed requirements for fall protection in 2012, changing rules from requiring safety gear for jobs 6 feet above ground to 15 feet.
Workers in this case were 20 feet above ground.
