OSHA: Hazards found at Centerville nursing home where worker fell to death

Federal inspectors found fall hazards at the Centerville nursing home tower where a telecommunications worker fell to his death, according to OSHA documents obtained by the Dayton Daily News.

Graceworks Lutheran Services, which operates Bethany Village, has until Friday to avoid citations by abating the hazards identified by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, according to a letter from Cincinnati Area Director Ken Montgomery.

MORE: OSHA investigates fatal fall at Centerville’s Bethany Village

A spokeswoman for Graceworks said in a written statement that the organization is “committed to safety.”

“We have received the letter and are drafting our response to OSHA,” said spokeswoman Allyson Crawford. “We expect to have a final response on Friday after consulting with our team.”

The letter from OSHA told Graceworks a December inspection of the workplace at Vista Place, 6451 Far Hills Ave., disclosed two hazards.

According to the letter, maintenance employees and sub-contractors “performing work and/or walking to gain access to work area on or near the edge of the low slope pitch roof without a fall protection system were exposed to trip and fall hazards.”

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The letter detailed voluntary steps Graceworks could take to eliminate or reduce hazards.

Mark French, a 30-year veteran of the P&R Communication company, died Oct. 11 after he fell from the tower at the Bethany Village complex. Centerville police alerted OSHA to the 54-year-old Dayton man’s death, and the agency’s investigators were on scene within 45 minutes, said Montgomery, the OSHA area director.

An OSHA inspection involving P&R Communications was closed without citations, said OSHA spokesman Scott Allen. The company’s chief executive, Katie Ward, did not respond to the newspaper’s request for comment.

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