Vertically Stored Roof Trusses, Even for a Moment, Cause Serious Injury When Gravity Has Its Way

Workplace safety failures related to materials storage continue to be a significant source of serious injuries and citations, on construction and manufacturing sites. The recent decision in Secretary of Labor v. Masis Staffing Solutions, LLC offers a sobering reminder that even momentary or “temporary” positioning of heavy construction materials like roof trusses must meet OSHA’s stability requirements to protect workers from struck-by hazards.

Masis Staffing Solutions (“Masis”), a staffing agency based in Massachusetts, supplied temporary workers to Ridgway Roof Truss Company (“Ridgway”)’s facility in Gainesville, Florida (the “Worksite”). Ridgway manufactures prefabricated roof trusses, which consist of large, heavy components often bundled in groups for staging and shipping. Workers would stack as many as 32 trusses into packages or bundles that were nailed and banded together and then loaded onto trucks. Some bundles can weigh thousands of pounds and stretch up to 60 feet long.

The Worksite was managed by Ridgway’s Director of Operations, Nevada Gellerman and Masi’s on-site production manager, Alejandro Alvardo Jose. Mr. Gellerman dealt with hiring, employee safety, training and discipline at the worksite. Mr. Jose had initially worked for Ridgway as a truss builder about ten years prior, was subsequently promoted to foreman and hired by Masis to continue working at the Worksite and continued as a foreman and had been recently promoted to production manager. In his roles, Mr. Jose, supervised production and ensured compliance of safety guidelines with the authority to discipline workers for non-compliance. Both Messrs. Gellerman and Jose shared safety responsibilities, including conducting safety walk-throughs and communicating with employees related to potential hazards such as falling truss bundles. A truss package standing vertically was pyramid shaped with top pointing upwards, and employees had been told that they could stand the packages vertically if stable. However, both Messrs. Gellerman and Jose had observed many “close calls” with the packages falling over, so they instituted an informal policy to only permit vertical storage against buildings or the Worksite’s fence. This informal policy was communicated over many meetings and yellow lines had even been painted in the middle of the yard where the packages were to be stored horizontally.

The underlying accident occurred on June 10, 2023, at the Worksite as a Masis worker was assisting with loading a large truss bundle onto a trailer. A nearby bundle, weighing approximately 2,000 pounds - and placed vertically without support or leaning against a building or fencing - fell and struck the worker, seriously injuring him. The accident was captured on video, showing multiple employees moving about the yard as the vertically stored truss towered overhead for nearly ten minutes before the Accident. The video showed how workers ignored the painted lines and continued to store bundles vertically in that area.

Following an OSHA investigation, Masis was cited under a safety regulation, which requires materials stored in tiers (like bundles or packages) to be “stacked, blocked, interlocked, and limited in height so that they are stable and secure against sliding or collapse.” Masis contested and challenged the Citation, claiming the applicable safety standard was not applicable as they argued that truss bundle was not “stored” but was merely a “load in process” and temporarily placed upright by a forklift to make space.

The Administrative Law Judge (the “ALJ”) disagreed finding that even short-term placement of bundle constitutes “storage” under OSHA’s standards if the material remains stationary and creates a hazard and available video evidence clearly showed that the standard was violated.

Critically, the ALJ found that Masis bore supervisory responsibility through its onsite production manager, Mr. Jose, who had previously been a foreman. He not only directed day-to-day operations and enforced safety rules, but also had warned workers to avoid vertical truss storage due to prior “near-miss” incidents. Although informal efforts had been made to prevent vertical storage in unsafe areas these efforts were inconsistently enforced, and no formal safety policy prohibited the practice outright.

By way of Mr. Jose, Masis had the knowledge and the authority to prevent the hazard. Despite seeing workers repeatedly stand trusses upright in unsafe ways, the ALJ found that Masis failed to enforce corrective actions before the injury occurred even if Mr. Jose had not witnessed the “Accident” or the circumstances leading to it on that day since he was aware that employees were improperly placing the packages vertically in the months prior to the Accident.

Masis also tried to argue that the injury resulted from employee misconduct outside its control- specifically that the forklift operator had violated their unwritten rule prohibiting placement of trusses vertically in the center of the Worksite’s yard. The ALJ rejected this defense, emphasizing how Masis had not clearly established a formal work-rule to prevent this struck-by violation and had failed to adequately communicate or enforce the rule. The alleged rule was unwritten, inconsistently applied, and only formally clarified after the incident.

Therefore, the Judge affirmed this Citation, constituting a serious violation, and imposed a $10,938 penalty.

Employers must ensure proper supervision and enforceable safety procedures for their employees are in place even if in instances they do not directly control the site. Moreover, the temporary placement of materials does not excuse failure to follow relevant materials handling standards. Bundled materials like trusses must be stored with full regard to their stability, even if they will only be upright “for a few minutes.”

If you would like more information regarding this topic please contact Costas Cyprus at ccyprus@wbgllp.com or call (914) 607-6445