Palm Bay roofing company fined after employee dies in fall

Oct 11, 2023

The Santa Claus Christmas tree topper in Debi Markoe's Palm Bay living room features a framed photo of a smiling Tim Kendrick, her late fiancé, surrounded by glowing white holiday lights.

This marks the first Christmas season since Kendrick was killed in a workplace accident — and "we're just going through the motions," Markoe said.

"Thanksgiving was hard. If I had my way, I'd wake up, and it would be Jan. 15. Our anniversary (of our first date) is Jan. 8, 2014. He proposed the day before Christmas Eve (2017)," she said.

Kendrick suffered fatal injuries in March, when he fell from the second-story roof of Greater Allen Chapel AME Church in Melbourne. It had recently rained, and the metal on the roof had become slick, a Melbourne police report said.

Kendrick, 52, was treated by Melbourne firefighters, then transported to Holmes Regional Medical Center. He succumbed to his injuries that night.

The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration later fined Hough Roofing Inc., his employer, $18,375 in amended penalties, according to an informal settlement.

"Timothy Kendrick, an employee of Hough Roofing Inc., was part of a five-man crew that was installing metal roofing panels on the roof of a church. Fall protection (equipment) was not being used," OSHA Area Director Les Grove, who is based in Tampa, wrote in an email the week after Kendrick's death.

"Mr. Kendrick was near the edge of the roof, and fell 23 feet, 6 inches, to the ground below," Grove wrote.

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The Palm Bay company had failed to ensure that employees used fall protection; failed to train employees on recognizing fall hazards and the proper use of portable ladders; and failed to ensure that portable ladders extended 3 feet above the upper landing, OSHA reported.

"Falls are the leading cause of fatalities in construction," Grove said in a September news release announcing the penalties.

"Tragedies like this can be prevented if the employer ensures workers are provided and utilize fall protection during the course of all roofing operations," Grove said.

Andrew Fredrickson is a Tallahassee construction law attorney who represented Hough Roofing in the OSHA case.

"Hough Roofing received and resolved the issues pertaining to OSHA's inspection of the tragic and unforeseeable incident occurring on March 12, 2019. Hough Roofing has always placed the utmost emphasis on employee safety and health, and the company will continue to dedicate resources, time, and energy into the training of its employees and the maintenance of its safety and health programs," Fredrickson said in an email.

Markoe and Kendrick dated for five years, and she called him "the love of my life." He proposed to her during the 2017 Christmas season, and they posed for engagement photographs in February 2018 in downtown Melbourne. The framed photos still hang on the walls of her home.

"From minute one, I was at ease with him. It was like I knew him my whole life. We talked about everything and anything. There was just a comfort between us," Markoe said.

Markoe recalled anxiously waiting at the hospital for word on Kendrick's medical condition after the fall.

"I'm thinking, 'This can't happen.' I'm not strong enough to handle this. This isn't something I'll survive. He's going to be OK," Markoe said.

"Death was never an option in my head. We had come through so much. This wasn't going to be his ending," she said.

Two days after Kendrick's passing, Markoe got a memorial tattoo of Hot Stuff the Little Devil on her left forearm. The classic cartoon character holds a yellow roofing nailer and a box of Mike and Ike's, the couple's favorite candy.

Markoe said Kendrick's death was particularly hard on Bear, her 7-year-old son. He is a second-grader at Odyssey Charter School.

"To him, Tim is his dad. Biologically, not so. But that's his dad," Markoe said.

"When we got together, Bear was 2. He has a biological father. But what he knows of a dad was Tim," she said.

Neale is the South Brevard watchdog reporter at FLORIDA TODAY.

Contact Neale at 321-242-3638 or [email protected]. Twitter: @RickNeale1