LEWISTON — Two Auburn businesses and one based in Biddeford were cited by a federal agency for violations after two men fell through skylights on snow-covered roofs last year.

All three companies were expected to make changes aimed at preventing future falls.

George Beam of Biddeford had been on the roof of the Auburn Mall during the afternoon in February 2015 to repair the building’s heating, ventilation and air conditioning system when he plunged through a Plexiglas skylight more than 20 feet and landed on a concrete floor. He was listed in critical condition at Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston.

Beam, who was 43 years old at the time of the fall, was an employee at Atlantic Comfort Systems Inc. of Biddeford. After his stay at the Lewiston hospital, he was transferred to a Portland hospital for rehabilitation and was expected to be released from hospital care within a couple of months of the incident.

A local fire official said Beam apparently mistook the skylight for a snowdrift.

Both Auburn Plaza Inc., owner of the mall, and the Biddeford company were investigated by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration and cited for “serious” violations.

The mall was ordered to better protect a hatchway opening to the roof with railings and install a “screen or fixed standard railing on all exposed sides” of the skylight.

No fine was imposed on the mall owners.

By contrast, OSHA fined Atlantic Comfort Systems $1,400 for not having proper skylight protections in place to prevent falling through a skylight, a “serious” violation, and $200 for not keeping a five-year log of reportable injuries and illnesses, according to Maryann Medeiros, area director at OSHA.

She said serious violations generally have monetary penalties associated with them. But some companies may engage in settlement discussions that could lessen the fine or eliminate it.

James Dugay, 48, was shoveling snow from the roof at Hartt Transportation Systems on Hotel Road in Auburn in March when he fell through a skylight about 25 feet onto a pile of boxes before landing on the floor, according to local fire officials who responded to the emergency call. Dugay was conscious and didn’t show any obvious injuries. He was taken to a hospital, where he was released later that day, fire officials said.

Investigators at OSHA concluded that, as in the Auburn Mall incident, a skylight didn’t have the property safety measures in place, a “serious” violation.

The OSHA regulations read: “Every skylight floor opening and hole shall be guarded by a standard skylight screen or fixed standard railing on all exposed sides.”

The trucking company was fined $4,900, reduced from an initial $7,000 fine, after settlement discussions.

The company was ordered to fix the violation.

Auburn Mall owner George Schott said Thursday that the building met all code requirements when it was built and hadn’t been aware of any needed updates until OSHA officials informed him of them after the incident.

“As soon as we found out we had an issue, we immediately hired a contractor and he put all the safety items that OSHA wanted us to do on the roof,” Schott said.”

Officials from OSHA inspected the updates and approved them, he said.

Spokespersons at Atlantic Comfort and Hartt Transportation could not be reached for comment.

cwilliams@sunjournal.com

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