Safety Archives - Construction Dispute Resolution

Fall Protection – Residential Construction

Falls are the most common type of injury accident on construction projects. We typically see temporary guardrails installed at heights or workers wearing fall protection harnesses with lanyards on commercial projects, but how about residential construction? It’s not uncommon to see workers on residential construction and single family home projects working unprotected around fall hazards, so are safety regulations less stringent for residential versus commercial construction? No! Fall protection pertaining to any construction work is mandated by Washington Administrative Code (WAC) 296-155, Part C-1.

Fall protection requirements are not just for hazards above 10 feet high. Floor holes and floor openings regardless of height must be guarded. Fall protection is required at the height of 4 feet or more at open-sided walking/working surfaces as well as ramps. Work activity on high slope roofs (4:12 pitch or greater) where a fall hazard of 4 feet or more exists also requires fall protection. Where employees are exposed to fall hazards of 10 feet or more, fall protection is required, as well as a written fall protection work plan.

The compliant means of fall protection are addressed in WAC 296-155, Part C-1 and include:

Fall arrest systems – Stopped after the fall with a 6 foot maximum free fall distance

Personal fall arrest with full body harness and lanyards
Safety nets
Catch platforms

Ladders On The Job Site

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We have all been around and used portable ladders on project job sites but have we been doing so in a safe and code compliant manner? Ladder safety violations are one of the top ten cited rule violations during L&I inspections. As an employer, one must have a competent person train all employees in the proper use of ladders. Commercially purchased ladders (which should have a label indicating ANSI compliance) as well as field built ladders must meet the design and construction requirements of ANSI A14 ladder standards.

Ladders must be inspected by a competent person when first put into service and periodically thereafter. Any structural damage to ladder components such as bent, broken, or split side rails and/or rungs renders the ladder as unusable. Note that a damaged or defective side rail of a commercially manufactured ladder cannot be repaired by the user.

Proper selection of a ladder for intended use is required. Nonconductive type ladders need to be used where exposed electrical hazards exist. Stepladders are to be used only in the fully opened position and not as a non-self-supporting portable single ladder.

Sidewalk Maintenance And Repair

Many of our residential neighborhoods and most municipal business districts have sidewalks along public right-of-ways providing public access throughout our communities. Commonly, sidewalks are constructed with public funding by municipalities or as part of private site developments. The general perception may be that maintenance and repair of these sidewalks is the responsibility of the city in which they are located, though this is not necessarily the case.

The Revised Code of Washington (RCW) Chapter 35.69 allows city councils to place the duty, burden, and expense of sidewalk maintenance and repair upon the property owner directly abutting the improvement. Several of our local cities including Seattle and Tacoma have adopted resolutions that require property owners to maintain sidewalks fit and safe for public travel. The Seattle Department of Transportation and Tacoma Public Works Department identify several conditions for sidewalk repairs including:

·        Height differential or separation greater than ½”
·        Cracks, separation, or hole greater than 1” in width
·        Any piece of sidewalk that can be moved with ordinary foot pressure
·        Undermined sidewalks

Insurance Repair Estimates

A fire, water leak or other damaging event to a building can be very disruptive and traumatic, and the repairs can be expensive. In such times the help of knowledgeable consultants can give clarity, direction and assurance that important issues are being addressed.

The insurance provider’s adjuster will document the conditions and extent of the observable damage to the areas affected by the damaging event. Based upon insurance coverage, the adjuster will present a written estimate calculating the amount of reimbursement for the repairs. The estimate often shows the actual cash value (ACV), reimbursable cash value (RCV), deductibles, or all three.

Many providers use an estimating program known as Xactimate. Xactimate was developed for the insurance industry for the purpose of standardizing the estimation of costs for repairs. Xactimate unit prices are updated periodically to account for changes in labor and material costs.

Job Safety – New Directives

Two recent safety directives specific to residential construction projects in Washington State affect contractors and homeowners and are critical to safety on jobsites.

OSHA

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration states that fatalities from falls are the number one cause of workplace death in construction. Over 15 years ago OSHA determined that workers who are six feet or more above lower levels are at risk for serious injury or death if they should fall. They mandated that to protect these workers employers must provide fall protection and appropriate equipment for the job, including ladders, scaffolds and safety gear. In 1998 OSHA issued standard STD 03-00-001, its Interim Fall Protection Compliance Guidelines for Residential Construction, which permitted employers engaged in certain residential construction projects to use specified alternative methods for fall protection, such as slide guards or safety monitor systems rather than conventional fall protection such as guardrails, safety nets or personal fall arrest systems. Now this standard for fall protection is under review, with a deadline of March 15, 2013 to revise it. When adopted, the new standard (STD 03-11-002) will likely establish that workers engaged in residential construction six feet or more above lower levels must be protected by conventional fall protection with guardrails, safety nets, personal fall arrest systems or similar methods found within the guidelines. Some alternative methods will be allowed if demonstrated and approved.

To follow this pending fall safety revision and subsequent training information go to http://www.osha.gov. Washington State’s regulations can be found on Washington’s Labor and Industries website at http://www.lni.wa.gov/safety/topics/atoz/topic.asp?KWID=108.

DOSH

The Division of Occupational Safety and Health in the State of Washington (DOSH) has revised the Washington Regional Directive (WRD) 1.19, titled Homeowners as General Contractors. This Directive dated July 3, 2012 affects homeowners who “are acting as the general contractor…in building their own homes”.

Table Saw Initiative

After years of allowing the power tool industry to police itself through voluntary standards, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is calling on toolmakers to strengthen safety standards. These actions come as table saw manufacturers face an increasing number of product safety lawsuits throughout the country. One of those lawsuits resulted in a jury awarding $1.5 million to a man who had sawed his fingers on a Ryobi brand table saw. In that lawsuit the plaintiffs charged that the manufacturer had known about a safety technology called SawStop, but had not integrated it (or something similar) to its products. No less than 50 similar lawsuits are pending nationwide, putting manufacturers on the defensive. Every day 10 people lose fingers in table saw amputations and the chairman of the CPSC would like to know why more isn’t being done to prevent such accidents.

Most table saw operators who injured themselves removed the blade guard for operational convenience, according to a CPSC study conducted from 2007 to 2008 that looked at 66,900 “blade contact injuries.” For that reason, CPSC is considering requiring that table saws come with a safety brake like the one offered on SawStop contractor and cabinet table saws, according to NPR. Within three-thousands of a second of contacting human skin, the brake fires and the blade drops down into the table, preventing injury.