The US Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration on Wednesday cited Cotton Commercial USA after a temporary worker fell through a roof. OSHA fined the Katy, Texas-based firm $362,500 for seven safety violations, including one willful and four willful egregious.

Gretna, La.-based Gardia Construction, which employs about 80 workers and provided the laborers to Cotton Commercial, received a citation for one serious violation, and a fine of $4,900, for failing to conduct frequent and regular inspections of the job site where its laborers worked.

According to OSHA, the temporary worker was on a roof without fall protection — despite his request for a safety harness — and later fell 12 feet through the roof. His fall resulted in his hospitalization with fractured arms and severe contusions.

Commercial USA’s violations include failing to provide fall protection for four workers, failure to promptly report the hospitalization of an employee resulting from a workplace incident, and not training employees in the use of fall protection and ladders.

“Falls kill workers, but they are preventable,” said Assistant Secretary for Occupational Safety and Health David Michaels. “Cotton Commercial denied its workers the safety equipment they are required to provide, and the company intentionally waited several days to report the incident and misled OSHA’s inspectors.”

Staffing agencies and host employers are jointly responsible for maintaining a safe work environment for temporary workers.

“Cotton Commercial was well aware of how to prevent safety hazard and, in fact, on the following day Cotton made sure all workers were provided with the required safety equipment,” said OSHA Regional Administrator John Hermanson. “It shouldn’t have to take a serious injury for a company to comply with the law.”

Each company has 15 business days from receipt of its citations to comply, meet with OSHA’s Houston South area director, or contest the citations and penalties before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.