The National Football League and workers’ compensation are usually partnered when talking about players and traumatic brain injuries, but there have also been injuries and even fatalities of workers who help to build facilities that they play in. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recently settled with a subcontractor and contractor working on the Minnesota Vikings stadium after an employee died at the site.

Berwald Roofing, a subcontractor for Mortenson Construction, was cited by OSHA for three violations and paid $113,200 in fines. Mortenson paid $34,300 for their serious violation. Berwald had a $3.4 million contract for their work on the stadium which has an approximate price tag of $1.129 billion.

On August 26^th, 2015 an employee of Berwald roofing died when he fell from the roof. He had crashed through one guardrail that was designed to prevent workers from falling off the roof, though there should have been a redundant guardrail but it was taken out a month before the accident to allow for sheet metal work to be done on that part of the roof. Another employee was injured when he too started to slide on the roof, though he did not fall.

Mortenson was cited because they failed to maintain safety and health programs that would provide for regular safety inspections of the site. They did not inspect the north roof where the employee fell from at regular intervals in order to correct any hazards.

Berwald was cited for a willful violation for failing to provide employees with fall protection. They also received a violation for allowing employees to work on a wet surface with no extra precautions, and another violation for not regularly inspecting the north roof where there were potential hazards. An owner of Berwald Roofing, Eugene Berwald, said that they cannot control an individual worker’s actions though the company stresses safety. He states that he does not know if the employee was wearing a safety harness or not.

“People do foolish things. They don’t hook up their lanyards,” he said.

Initially Minnesota OSHA proposed fines for the two companies totaling $175,000 but both companies appealed and fines were lowered.