An 84-foot fall killed a 20-year-old. His employer repeatedly fails at fall protection

A Stuart, Florida roofing contractor faces a $74,217 OSHA fine from a worker’s fatal fall off a hotel roof in December. The contractor had been cited twice previously in 2019 for the same violation.

Modern Construction Experts, which also works under Modern Roofing Experts, was cited for failure to use proper fall protection in March 2019 ($5,304) and September 2019 ($17,503) before the Dec. 3 tragedy in Panama City Beach.

A worker, identified by Northwest Florida Daily News as 20-year-old Oslin Roely Lopez Jimenez, fell to his death off the roof of Beach Tower by the Sea hotel.

OSHA’s Citation and Notification of Penalty states, “…employees performing roofing work on the steep roof of a seven-story commercial hotel, with a 6/12 pitch … are not protected from a 84-foot fall hazard by the use of personal fall protection systems.”

Violations are classified as Other-Than-Serious, Serious, Repeat or Willful. This was classified as Repeat, as was one of the citations in the September dunning.

In addition to being a repeat violator, the roofing company run by Luis David Fernandez Sr. didn’t pay its previous fines, according to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration website. Both sets of fines have been referred to debt collection.