Shawnlee Construction LLC, based in Plainville, Mass., failed to have a guardrail system, safety nets or a personal fall arrest system while employees were working on a flat roof deck more than 11 feet above the ground at the site, according to the citation.

OSHA spokesman Ted Fitzgerald said the company was hired by the general contractor, A Secondino & Son, to do roof work. When the inspection was conducted on Feb. 22 by the Hartford-area OSHA, workers were installing roof braces and lateral supports over a concrete slab floor.

“The employers’ responsibilities are to ensure there are no hazards,” Fitzgerald said. “OSHA observed the workers were lacking fall protection. Had they fallen, that could have resulted in injury or even death.”

The company has 15 business days from the receipt of its citation, which was March 22, to comply or contest the findings.

The violation was a repeat offense, Fitzgerald said. In 2007 and 2008, the company was cited for three similar violations in Stonington, Middletown and Concord, N.H.

Fitzgerald said the inspection was routine, and was not brought on by a complaint or injury.

Montville Town Planner Marcia Vlaun, who is managing the public safety building project, said the violation doesn’t affect the construction of the building.

“It has no bearing on the town’s part of the project whatsoever,” Vlaun said.

In 2010, 751 construction workers across the country died on the job, and 35 percent of those deaths resulted from falls, according to U.S. Department of Labor statistics.