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Oh boy, pinched by big governments enforcer. Sign company fined $42,350 August 10, 2011 | A neon sign company has been fined for exposing employees to fall hazards at a job in Manhattan this May. The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited North Shore Neon Sign of New York for six alleged violations of workplace safety standards after an OSHA inspector observed employees exposed to fall hazards while repairing a sign in Union Square, Manhattan in May. The company faces a total of $42,350 in fines. The inspector observed an employee working on a scaffold that lacked a guardrail system while another employee was climbing out of the elevated platform of an aerial lift onto the scaffold. Neither employee was tied off to prevent a fall, and there was no ladder or other means of safely accessing the scaffold. Additionally, the employees were not wearing head protection and the lift’s outriggers were improperly set and could have caused it to overturn. As a result OSHA cited the company for three repeat violations with $26,180 in proposed fines and three serious citations with $16,170 in proposed fines. A repeat violation exists when an employer has been cited previously for the same or a similar violation of a standard, regulation, rule or order at any other facility in federal enforcement states within the last five years. In this case, the repeat citations relate to a similar OSHA citation in November 2009 at a Wantagh work site. A serious violation occurs when there is substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result from a hazard about which the employer knew or should have known. “These conditions exposed workers to potentially deadly or disabling falls of up to 12 feet to the concrete sidewalk below,” said Kay Gee, OSHA’s Manhattan area director. “Having effective fall protection in place and in use at all times is critical to avoiding needless accidents that can have devastating effects.” North Shore Neon has 15 business days to comply, meet with OSHA’s area director or contest the findings before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.