Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: 04/23/2009

Contact person(s):

Media Coordinator, Hilary Moores - (707) 565-3099 Media Spokesperson, Chief District Attorney Spencer Brady

Santa Rosa, Sonoma County, California

CAL OSHA VIOLATIONS OF UNSAFE WORKING CONDITIONS CAUSING DEATH OF AN EMPLOYEE RESULT IN FELONY CONVICTION FOR ROOFING COMPANY OWNER

Sonoma County District Attorney Stephan Passalacqua announced today that the former owner of a Santa Rosa roofing company was sentenced to 9 months jail and ordered to pay $248,000 in fines and restitution after being convicted of two felony counts of violating worker safety laws resulting in the death of one employee and a serious, permanent brain injury to another.  Kenneth Hugh Alton, 57, Santa Rosa, entered no contest pleas to the charges after he and his company, ANC Roofing, failed to protect workers from unprotected skylights at two separate jobsites.  Also sentenced today was supervisor Robert Lawrence McAfee, 39, Santa Rosa, who pleaded no contest to a single misdemeanor violation and was sentenced to 30 days jail.  Former ANC owner, Dale Charles, charged with one misdemeanor count, will appear for arraignment on charges May 18, 2009.

District Attorney Stephan Passalacqua stated, “This incident was a tragedy that was preventable.  Workers have a fundamental right  to be protected and an expectation that they will return home safely from their job to their family and loved ones.  When safety laws are ignored, it is more than an accident, it is a crime.”

Antonio Quezada Serrano, was operating a felt laying machine on May 11, 2006, at a jobsite in Rohnert Park when he backed into an unguarded skylight and fell 21 feet to his death.  On September 21, 2006, Jose Pina Maya was installing plastic sheeting on a roof in Windsor when a wind gust blew him into an unprotected skylight causing him to fall 19 feet sustaining severe head trauma and a broken leg. Mike Byrne, Senior Investigator for the California Occupational Safety and Health Administration (Cal OSHA) investigated the incidents and referred the case to the Sonoma County District Attorney’s Office for prosecution.  Cal OSHA rule, Title 8 California Code of Regulations Section 3212(e), requires employers and supervisors to protect employees against unprotected skylights on roofing jobs by placing barricades around or covers upon skylights.

Labor Code Section 6425, of which Alton was convicted, makes it a felony punishable by up to three years in prison and a $250,000 fine for an employer or supervisor to willfully violate a Cal OSHA standard when that violation results in the death or permanent or prolonged impairment of an employee. Labor Code Section 6423, of which McAfee was convicted, makes it a misdemeanor to knowingly or negligently violate a worker safety rule and can result in a sentence of six months jail and a $5,000 fine.

In addition to the jail sentence Alton was placed on one year probation and ordered to pay a $74,000 fine to Cal OSHA and to make supplemental workers’ compensation payments of $125,000 to Jose Pina Maya and $49,000 to the estate of Antonio Quezada Serrano.

Deputy District Attorney Jeffrey W. Holtzman prosecuted the case (SCR 558611).  Superior Court Judge Elliot Daum, presided over the proceeding.