Builders Steel Co. v. Marshall

575 F.2d 663, 6 BNA OSHC 1583, 6 OSHC (BNA) 1583, 1978 U.S. App. LEXIS 11144
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
DecidedMay 17, 1978
DocketNo. 77-1589
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 575 F.2d 663 (Builders Steel Co. v. Marshall) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Builders Steel Co. v. Marshall, 575 F.2d 663, 6 BNA OSHC 1583, 6 OSHC (BNA) 1583, 1978 U.S. App. LEXIS 11144 (8th Cir. 1978).

Opinion

HEANEY, Circuit Judge.

Builders Steel Company seeks review of a decision of an administrative law judge which found Builders in violation of occupational safety regulation 29 C.F.R. § 1926.-105(a).1 The decision became the final order of the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (Commission) when no member directed its review within the statutory time period. 29 U.S.C. § 661(i); 29 C.F.R. § 2200.90(b)(3). Builders was assessed a penalty of $500.

The facts are largely undisputed. On September 23,1976, Builders was constructing a warehouse for the Sony Corporation in Kansas City, Missouri. The warehouse was a single-story steel structure consisting of numerous forty-foot by forty-foot bays. Each bay consisted of four vertical columns, one at each corner; two horizontal trusses running east and west that were bolted to the top of two columns; and two horizontal perimeter bar joists running north and south that were bolted at each end to a truss. Seven intermediate bar joists ran parallel to the perimeter bar joists. They were spaced about five feet apart and bolted at each end to a truss. Three lines of bridging welded to the top and bottom of each bar joist served to stabilize the joists. The bridging ran perpendicular to the joists, approximately ten feet apart. The roof took on a grid-like appearance when completed.

While the work was in progress, OSHA compliance officer, John Tulipana, arrived at the work site. After conferring with the foreman, Tulipana inspected the premises. During the inspection, Tulipana watched two teams of men welding the bridging to the bar joists. The men walked, crawled and sat on the bar joists when making their welds. A welder took only five to ten seconds to complete his work at one point, and a two-man team could complete the welding of an entire bay in about fifteen to twenty minutes. The men were welding at a height of twenty-nine feet seven and one-half inches. Tulipana observed that no [665]*665safety devices providing fall protection were in use during the welding operations. Builders did not require such devices.

Builders was cited for a serious violation of § 1926.105(a) for not providing safety nets when workers were exposed to a fall of over twenty-five feet to a concrete floor below and assessed a penalty of $500. Builders contested the citation. Thereafter, the Secretary of Labor issued his complaint and on January 19,1977, a hearing was held before an administrative law judge. The administrative law judge affirmed the citation and the $500 penalty. See 29 U.S.C. § 659(c).

Builders first argues that it was denied due process because the Secretary’s complaint significantly changed the description of the violation in the citation. The citation states that Builders violated § 1926.105(a) when it failed to provide safety nets. The complaint, however, alleged that Builders violated the regulation by failing to provide safety nets, ladders, scaffolds, catch platforms, temporary floors, safety lines or safety belts.2

The administrative law judge found that Builders violated § 1926.105(a) because it failed to provide safety nets. Thus, the violation, as established, conformed to the original allegation in the citation. Given this circumstance, we fail to see how Builders was prejudiced by the additional allegations in the complaint. Moreover, the complaint was served two and one-half months prior to the hearing. This gave Builders adequate notice of the additional allegations so that it could present contrary evidence at the hearing. See Long Mfg. Co., N. C., Inc. v. O. S. & H. Review Com’n, 554 F.2d 903, 907-908 (8th Cir. 1977).

Builders’ second and third arguments are more complex. It contends in its second argument that § 1926.105(a) is inapplicable to the warehouse project because a more specific steel erection standard applies, 29 C.F.R. § 1926.750(b)(2)(i).3 Builders maintains that this specific steel erection standard preempts the general standard, see U. S. Steel v. Occupational S. and H. Review Com’n, 537 F.2d 780, 784 (3rd Cir. 1976), and that it was in full compliance with the specific standard as its employees were working at a height less than thirty feet with a concrete floor below them.

The Secretary argues that § 1926.-750(b)(2)(i) is inapplicable to the warehouse because it is not a “tiered” building. He contends that the Commission has consistently interpreted § 1926.750(b)(2)(i) “to include only those buildings which have a number of floors[.]” Daniel Construction Co., OSHRC Docket Nos. 7734, 7672 (Feb. 10, 1977), 1976-77 CCH OSHD ! 21,521 at 25,824. See McKee-Wellman Power Gas, OSHRC Docket No. 12618 (June 23, 1977), 1977-78 CCH OSHD H 21,972.

Builders’ third argument is closely related to its second argument. It maintains that § 1926.105(a) cannot reasonably be applied to a single-story steel structure, such as the warehouse, because it was erected in an identical manner with the first tier of steel in a multi-story building. Consequently, § 1926.750(b)(2)(i) should apply since employees are subjected to identical dangers in either structure.

The Secretary concedes that Builders’ argument may have some merit and does not [666]*666attempt to refute Builders’ contention that the risks are identical in both buildings. He argues, instead, that the Commission’s limitation of § 1926.750(b)(2)(i) to “tiered” buildings should control in any event otherwise employee protection would be withdrawn and employees subjected to a fall of thirty feet rather than twenty-five feet. He makes no attempt to distinguish a thirty-foot fall from a single-story building and a thirty-foot fall from the first tier of a multi-story building. He also concedes that the erection of the structural steel at the warehouse was identical with the erection of the first tier of steel in a multi-story building.

The administrative law judge agreed with the Secretary’s assessment. With respect to Builders’ second argument, he held that § 1926.105(a) was the applicable standard rather than § 1926.750(b)(2)(i). He did so on the basis of his reading of the comments accompanying the revision of § 1926.-750(b)(2)(i),4 the Secretary’s explanation of the revision in the Federal Register,5 and the Daniel and McKee-Wellman cases. See also Havens Steel Co., OSHRC Docket No. 13463 (Jan. 29, 1976), 1975-76 CCH OSHD 120,467. The problem of the single-story building is not directly addressed in these documents. The focus of these documents is justifying the increase of a potential fall from twenty-five to thirty feet.

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Bluebook (online)
575 F.2d 663, 6 BNA OSHC 1583, 6 OSHC (BNA) 1583, 1978 U.S. App. LEXIS 11144, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/builders-steel-co-v-marshall-ca8-1978.