
The owner of a Scarborough, Maine, home improvement company has been charged with workplace manslaughter in the death of a roofer who was not wearing federally required fall protection on a residential jobsite, the Portland Press Herald reports. The company owned by Shawn Purvis had a long history with workplace safety violations prior to the incident in December 2018.
The indictment, which does not include any supporting documentation or police reports, alleges Purvis intentionally or knowingly violated a federal occupational safety or health requirement to have fall protection, and that worker’s death was a reasonably foreseeable consequence of that failure. Purvis has been summonsed but his preliminary court date has not been set, said Assistant Attorney General Leanne Robbin.
The case is likely only the second time prosecutors in Maine have sought charges under the workplace manslaughter statute, which is a subsection of manslaughter and carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $5,000 fine. If Purvis is convicted on the manslaughter charge, a Class A felony, he will face as much as 30 years in prison and a $50,000 fine.
Under federal workplace safety laws, employers are required to provide safety equipment such as fall harnesses, or make accommodations to prevent falls, such as installing temporary handrails, when workers are at heights above a certain threshold.
Purvis' company, Purvis Home Improvements has been ordered to pay more than $44,000 fines for failing to meet fall-protection safety standards. OSHA has fined the company twice in 2012, in 2015, and in 2018, the most recent recommending the largest monetary sanction of $24,390. The Portland Press Herald reports that Purvis has refused to pay the fines OSHA has attempted to levy against him and his business.
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