Construction Informer

Image by The U.S. National Archives via Flickr

So, how would you feel if your local building inspector started to note safety issues on your jobs and reported them to OSHA? Well, OSHA is testing the waters with a pilot program in 11 cities that would do just that.

Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis sent letters to the mayors of Austin, Boise, Cincinnati, Concord NH, Greenwood Village CO, Atlanta, Newark, Oakland, Washington D.C., Madison MS and Wichita KN proposing that OSHA work with and train local building inspectors on hazards associated with the four leading causes of death at construction sites. Those are falls, electrocution, being crushed or caught between objects, or being struck by moving machinery or objects.

Under this program, building inspectors would notify OSHA when they observe, during the course of their work, unsafe work conditions. OSHA, in turn, would send a federal agency compliance officer to that workplace for a safety inspection.

“This initiative allows us to expand our eyes and ears,” said Dr. David Michaels, assistant secretary of labor for OSHA. “Although we are adding 110 new inspectors this year, OSHA simply cannot inspect every construction site in the country.”

On the one hand it seems like a good idea. The inspectors are already on the sites and let’s face it, as representatives of the state governments that control the workman’s compensation programs maybe they should be more involved in safety. That could be one thing that would recommend the idea to the states and municipalities. Having some local oversight could also be beneficial to contractors who run safe sites by putting the pressure on the competing “safety laggards” to catch up, or face fines. That could increase their costs to match those of the ones who are paying attention to safety.

But then there is the whole tattle-tale thing. Some overly zealous inspectors might abuse their power even more than they do already. When there are inspectors on the take then I wonder if they would turn their heads on reporting some jobs while turning in those who do not play their game. I’m sure the idea assumes that everybody is playing fairly and being nice. But, that is not always so in any regulatory environment where you have entrenched employees.

The biggest potential is that job sites might become safer and help construction get out of first place in job site fatalities.

We probably didn’t need to be reminded of this but the Construction Safety Association of BC (CSABC), in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, has driven the point home one more time. Calling construction an industry with “a greater risk of injuries and fatalities then other industries,” CSABC stepped up to the plate to help make construction people more aware of job site safety.

The organization teamed with WorkSafeBC Toolbox Talks and the Toyota BC Dealers Association to offer an online contest where entrants had a chance to win a Toyota Tundra. The effort got more than 77,000 entries as people tried to answer safety questions over a 14 week period.

The winner, Aaron Rath said he entered mostly to see if there were any safety items he didn’t know, and in fact he said he did learn, or perhaps was reminded, of just how critical it is to be aware of his surroundings.

But perhaps what this says beyond the basic safety message is that construction people are becoming more and more tech savvy and that should serve as inspiration for those who have to deliver safety messages since it opens up whole new ways of doing that.

I’ll bet it won’t be long before the worker who is clocking in on a piece of equipment, using a cell phone, is presented with a little safety quiz before being able to start the engine. If you know something like this is already being done, feel free to leave a comment telling us about it.

It was a rainy morning. One of those dark, low-cloud days that signaled you were in for being wet and miserable. I was managing the renovation of 100 apartment units in 12 buildings and as I began my morning walk-around I noticed a guy slinking along a second story roof edge. He was there to install the gutters. I had met him the day before when I gave him his orientation and safety briefing. Apparently, either nothing I had said had sunk in, or he was just one of those guys who gets things done. You all know them. Give them a job and nothing to work with and they’ll figure out how to get it done. I was utterly amazed. He was walking on slick shingles on a 6/12 pitch 20 feet in the air as rain poured down without even a toe board! I could have sworn I saw his sneakers hydro-planning.

After I got my heart re-started I asked him to come down, and well… you know the rest of the story. That’s an example of a no-brainer, act of stupidity. But how many times have you seen people using a hammer without wearing safety glasses? Or, how about the table saw stripped of the guard because the operator can’t figure out how to adjust it so the lumber doesn’t bind up? The statistics aren’t pretty. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics a little more than 6 full time workers for every 100 will be injured or become ill as the result of what they do in construction. That number goes up to more than 8 in 100 for those in the foundation, structure and building exterior trades. According to these same statistics, and it might come as a shock to many, injury and illness for framers is at 13 for every 100.

In my experience, talking to owners about safety is all fine and good as long as it doesn’t cost. They are just as happy to transfer that responsibility to the contractor and they expect the costs of safety meetings, safety equipment and safety policy enforcement to be included in the total contract cost. That’s a strong message to contractors. When you bid, make sure you can deliver a safe jobsite for the money the owner is willing to pay. Remember, you are going to have to overcome the “he-man” attitudes of a lot of workers who never think anything bad is ever going to happen to them and some hungry lawyers who can convince them that something did. Good luck out there.