Two skylight tragedies end in jail sentences

A referral by Cal/OSHA (California's Division of Occupational Safety and Health) has resulted in a conviction on two felony counts for violating the state's worker safety laws. One defendant, ANC Roofing owner Kenneth Hugh Alton of Santa Rosa, entered a no contest plea to the charge of failing to protect employees from a hazard and was sentenced to nine months in jail and ordered to pay $248,000 in fines and restitution.

The violations had been uncovered by investigations that began after Antonio Quezada Serrano backed into an unguarded skylight and fell 21 feet to his death at a job site on May 11, 2006, and Jose Pina Maya sustained permanently disabling injuries on Sept. 21, 2006, when he fell 19 feet from an unprotected skylight at a separate job site, Cal/OSHA reported April 24. California law requires that employees be protected from a fall if they are working within 6 feet of a skylight, according to an April 28 Occupational Health & Safety report.

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