In residential construction OSHA is citing and fining Builders, Remodelers, Developers, Roofers, Painters, Siding and Gutter Contractors and any trade who exposes their workers to falls from heights 6 feet or more above a lower level.
Friday, November 06, 2015
Why do residential contractors ignore OSHA Fall Protection standards?
In residential construction OSHA is citing and fining Builders, Remodelers, Developers, Roofers, Painters, Siding and Gutter Contractors and any trade who exposes their workers to falls from heights 6 feet or more above a lower level.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
6 comments:
It seems silly the way that we are trying to enforce safety protocols in the workplace, especially in less professional situations. This isnt a question of lack of education and or stupid contractors, it’s a question of compliance. In the medical field one of the largest causes of failed treatment isnt mis-diagnosis or malpractice but non-compliance with taking medication. In medicine there is a large push not just to get people to understand what is good for them and exactly why they should do it, but also to be very judicious in what they ask people to do to take care of themselves. Its human nature to go the path of convenience. Im not saying that we shouldn’t have OSHA regulations, but I would interested in seeing numbers about how effective regulations are when properly implemented vs when they are not. Enforcement shouldn’t be about making people follow the rules, it should be about making people safe. We should taylor our regulations and enforcement to actually make the workplace safer.
I was always curious as to how roofers and painters always got away with not having fall protection and I guess I found my answer – OSHA hasn’t tracked them down. My dad used to be an electrician and worked in open-framed houses all the time and not once in my childhood did I ever see a harness or ropes or guard rail. I understand that following fall protection standards is expensive, but I guess what I’m not seeing is the way it would affect competition against other companies. I guess companies with fall protection would have to charge clients more in order to be able to pay for proper fall protection equipment, but the scary thing is that all the contractors and painters in this article seem uninterested in protecting their workers and more interested in keeping their prices low. Back to my usual argument that safety is important and should never be forgone because of money or other such matters.
As the article said it mostly all comes down to money. In all industries safety is expensive and to the heads of most companies its not worth the cost. Like we learned in tech management the other day over the past thirty years its become less about what is good for the worker and more about what is good for the company. Although it would cost a lot at the beginning I still think they should invest in safety equipment, its not only the right thing to do but in the long run the most cost effective. I don't know how much they pay in insurance or workers compensation but even if they invest in the equipment and have it on site then have the workers choose to use it or not then they will eliminate their insurance costs greatly. I was working on my aunt's house this past summer and we were up on the roof with no safety gear because we were up there one time. But if i was up there everyday for my job then i would highly push for better safety equipment because in the end you don't want to be the company that lets its workers get hurt.
The scariest part about this article is the comments from contractors who read it. A lot of them seem to be the kind of people who consider a carpenter "safe" if he still has all of his digits by the time he's 40.
It's also pretty terrifying how unenforced fall protection regulations are, either from the contractors themselves or OSHA. These people are working on roofs. IN PUBLIC. IN OPEN AIR. How is this such a wide practice? Wouldn't your average OSHA inspector just driving around see these guys working unsafely?
I think the contractors' reasons for not following standards also speaks to a rather shameful lack of oversight in the residential construction industry. "I can't compete with the cost of people who hire illegal immigrants and cut corners" is a terrible, but very real reason for not following basic safety guidelines, and all of this corner-cutting is doing nothing but artificially lowering the cost of residential construction.
I understand both sides of this.
The OSHA inspectors have a job to do. That job is enforcing safety. The rules exist for a (good) reason, and many deaths and injuries are entirely preventable if the employer would just follow the health and safety regulation.
The contractor also has a job to do, and a bottom line, and they have to compete when bidding against others. Fall arrest adds time, theres no doubt about it. I think it’s hard to say how much more time, but it’s easy to see. If I put on a harness every time I load one brick on the rail, it doubles the time it takes me to load that one brick. Probably triples it, actually.
This becomes unfortunate when employers discourage (or even forbid) employees from using the appropriate PPE because it’s cutting into their bottom line. It’s also unfortunate when conscientious employers are losing bids because they fairly and accurately bid the amount of time and money it will take to complete the project if they do it safely.
If a GC can get nailed with their sub if the sub isn’t following procedure, than perhaps the homeowner should get nailed too. I understand that the reason you bring in a contractor is to spread around that liability, and to bring in the expertise so that you don’t have to worry about it, but I just wonder if that wouldn’t be incentive for a client to select the team or contractor who will be safest for the job.
There are many things that happen on a job site, and one that is a little far for some are deadlines. I worked on a construction site a few years ago, and about the only time I saw hard hats being used was around the bigger machinery. Otherwise, it would become difficult for roofers, and framers to get the job done in the amount of time needed. As seeing that injuries can happen from any height, even when you’re as close to the ground as you are, safety still needs to be thought about. I mean even the most veteran worker is liable to make a mistake. Now having all of the hardware necessary to be able to prevent workers from falling off of roofs, might end up being more of a hassle. The amount of times they cross over various beams, would mean just that much more time going into safety, and that much less time until the deadline arrives.
Post a Comment