Downtown Lawyer

Solis v. Summit Contractors, Inc., No. 07-2191.

Summit Contractors was the general contractor for building a college dormitory in Little Rock, Arkansas, and subcontracted the entire project.  Because of the subcontract agreement, Summit Contractors had only four employees at the project.  One of the subcontractors, All Phase Construction, failed to use personal fall protection on scaffolds without guardrails.  When an OSHA inspector visited the site and witnessed this hazard, he issued a citation to Summit Contractors based on the controlling employer citation policy.

Under the controlling employer citation policy, OSHA compliance officer can cite a general contractor for a subcontractor’s violation if the general contractor has the ability to prevent or abate the hazard through the reasonable exercise of supervisory authority.  Summit Contractors argued that the regulation at issue did not require it to protect the employees of a subcontractor.  After several hearings on the issue, the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission petitioned the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals for review.

After reviewing the history of OSHA and the controlling employer citation policy, the Eighth Circuit deferred to the Secretary of Labor’s interpretation of the controlling employer citation policy.  The court further noted that the regulation itself allows for citation to Summit Contractors because it was required to protect the “places of employment,” which is broad enough to cover harms to a subcontractor’s employees, even if Summit Contractors’ employees were never exposed to the harm.