If anyone reading this speaks Russian, please post what the text on the posters says.
A little more hard hitting than the “carol forgot to wear her safety glasses, and now she doesn’t need them” posters.
Speaking of safety posters, don’t forget to post those OSHA 300A logs in your office and at any worksites from Feb 1 to April 1. If you need guidance on how or why you need to do this, the Construction Risk Blog has the answers.
I don’t think ‘contractor risk profile’ is a term you will find in wikipedia or the dictionary, but it’s a concept that can have a large effect on an Insurance Company Underwriter when he or she takes a look at your account and starts to determine your pricing. A glaring example of a bad risk profile is this headline: COMPANY IN BRIDGE COLLAPSE PREVIOUSLY CITED BY OSHA
Earlier today, a Connecticut contractor was doing demolition work on a bridge, when it partially collapsed. There was only one serious injury, but the repercussions will be grave. Obviously, at this point it is too early to point fingers at who is responsible for the collapse(unknown who the contractor was who built the bridge in 1949, and who did a major renovation on it in the 1980′s). It could be the contractor who was working on it today, or a 25 year old completed ops claim. However, since the bridge hadn’t collapsed prior to the recent demolition, it was be surmised that Brunalli will be found responsible for this. Frankly, I wouldn’t want to google my company’s name and have the first page filled with my history of OSHA fines and collapses that severely injured my employees. The contractor on this job doesn’t have a website, so they have no online presence or information in which they can offset their shaky track record on safety. Unfortunately for them, when an insurance underwriter is doing their initial research on your account, the internet and your website are some of their first stops. Do what you can to be known and respected as a safe construction company. And not just paying lip service to it, but actually having the safety record and low experience MOD to prove it.
It is too early to say that this disaster today could have been prevented, but given what happened last time OSHA visited one of their job sites, it can be said that this company is not known for safety.
List of OSHA fines from 2009:
The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited Brunalli for safety issues involving the rebuilding of a bridge over the Housatonic River in Falls Village. OSHA said the company failed to protect workers against falls, drowning and other hazards at the Route 7 job site.
The December 2008 OSHA inspection –which led to the fine — found employees exposed to falls of up to 43 feet while working without fall protection on unprotected or inadequately guarded sections of the bridge and using an access ladder of inadequate height.
Workers also were exposed to drowning hazards due to the lack of life jackets, ring buoys and a lifesaving skiff which are required to be used and readily available on site when employees work over water.
In the Falls Village project, OSHA issued Brunalli Construction three willful citations, with $147,000 in proposed fines, for the fall, drowning and ladder hazards and 10 serious citations, with $33,950 in proposed fines, for additional fall-related hazards, puncture and laceration hazards from a damaged cable guardrail system, no hard hats for employees exposed to overhead hazards, amputation and laceration hazards from unguarded grinders, and no trained emergency responders on site.
OSHA defines a willful violation as one committed with plain indifference to or intentional disregard for employee safety and health. OSHA issues serious citations when death or serious physical harm is likely to result from hazards about which the employer knew or should have known.
Does your construction company need a risk profile improvement? Contact the crew at Construction Risk Advisors for the type of risk management advice that the safest contractors in Connecticut have been using for years.
UNDATED (WSAU) Congratulations to U-W Stevens Point graduate Mary Chind. She won a Pulitzer Prize for breaking news photography yesterday.
The 42-year-old U-W-S-P grad is a staff photographer for the Des Moines Register newspaper.
Her winning photograph was taken during a flood of the Des Moines River on June 30th. It shows a man on a crane being lowered into the water to rescue a woman whose boat had capsized.
Breaking News Photography 2009: River rescue in downtown Des Moines: A woman is pulled from near the Center Street dam by construction worker Jason Oglesbee on Tuesday. A man who was with the unidentified woman died in the Des Moines River. A rescue team from the Des Moines Fire Department tried several times to rescue the woman but could not get close enough to her.
Jason Oglesbee, the construction worker who saved the drowning woman is as humble as he is brave. This is the only quote he gave to reporters after the rescue:
“I happened to have the harness on, see. That’s all I want to say. They just harnessed me up and dipped me down in the water and I grabbed her and drug her — the crane drug her — to the boat and that’s it. What are you going to do if she’s like that? It’s no big deal. The whole crew did it. So that’s all I want to really talk about or have to say. You know, my supervisor…they all did a good job.”
Despite the fact that he risked his life and very expensive equipment to successfully rescue the drowning woman, what would his employers’ insurance carrier think about this? OSHA? Would he have gotten comp if he had been injured during the rescue? I’d love to hear some feedback on what other parties have to think about this.
It’s been a snowy winter for several parts of the country that don’t typically see this type of weather. Specifically the Mid-Atlantic, where cities like Baltimore have already received 5 feet of snowfall, and we’re only halfway to spring. While citizens of New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine normally relish these levels of precipitation, they have gotten less than two feet of total accumulation. Which has been a boom to their public works budgets but a bust for ski resorts without a lot of man made snowmaking capabilities…anyways, for those of you not familiar with driving around when the roads are white, here’s a list of things that can make your drive safer in the event of getting stuck. Let’s say that the forecast is calling for 6″-12″ of snow with blowing winds and the temperatures are in the mid 20s(not unlike the weather in Maryland yesterday) and you are about to head into work, but expect to be battling the storm on your way home.
1. Have a full tank of gas. You never know when you will get stuck, but being able to stay warm in the car/ recharge a dead phone/ and keep the headlights on to signal to rescuers is crucial.
2. Winter clothes. In case you need to spend the night in your vehicle or venture out into the storm to get help, you will be glad you had a heavy blanket, gloves, hat, and warm boots(nothing like walking in a blizzard wearing 3″ heels)
3. Flashlight or headlamp. They’re cheap and don’t take up much room in your trunk, console, or glovebox. Helpful for signaling to rescuers, morale, and lighting up the work area if you have to change a tire or dig yourself out. I like maglites or black diamond head lamps.
4. Collapsible shovel. Crucial for clearing snow away from a stranded or a stuck vehicle.
4.a Kitty litter is a great thing to use if your tires are still spinning after you cleared the snow. Dump a bunch around and under your tires then try moving again.
4.b Your car’s floormats can also be used to gain traction if you’re stuck. When I lived in Colorado, this got my 4 wheel drive truck unstuck on more than one occasion. Jam them under your tires in the direction you are trying to go. Replace when done!
5. Something red like an old t-shirt, bandanna, or underwear that you can affix to your antennae. If your car doesn’t have an antenna, use your onstar! This is so that rescuers can see you if your car has gone off the road.
6. Food/Water. If you know you are stuck and aren’t going anywhere for a while, you’d be amazed what kind of morale boost having a snack and staying hydrated can be. Power bars and bottled water stay good for a very long time if unopened.
7. If you know you will be driving in crappy weather, let someone know! This can be as easy as a phone call, email, facebook update, tweet, etc… if you let someone know you are hitting the road, but don’t reach your destination, they can be instrumental in alerting the police and rescue personnel to your situation and location.
8. If you live somewhere that it snows regularly. Regularly get new snow tires. They’ll bolster your winter driving confidence as well as your car’s ability to handle the snow.
I’ve never been in a situation where I was on the side of the road and was looking at staying the night snowbound in my car, but the general rule is do not get out and walk! (unless you know precisely where you are going). I’ve also never been ran over by a DOT plow, but that’s one of the likely scenarios of what will happen if you try to start walking for help on a snow covered highway at night. Also, say you leave your car and start walking. It’s still snowing, so your tracks get covered up almost instantaneously. How would rescuers know which way you started walking? They wouldn’t; that’s why you stay in the car. If you have any other ideas besides staying home and stocking up on liquor, please add them.
Assuming you implement some sort of safety measures on your job site daily, why don’t you post some videos on your website, twitter, facebook fan page, and blog? I uploaded my first video to youtube last week directly from my point and shoot handheld. It takes less than 10 minutes to do, and it will allow prospects, clients, and most importantly, Insurance Underwriters to see just how serious your construction company is about safety. If you want to save $$ on your next renewal, instead of changing your auto deductible from $500 to $1000, post some videos that showcase your firm’s commitment to being safe. The positive results you’ll get will make you scratch your head and wonder why you waited so long. If you don’t have a website, I will be more than happy to dedicate a page of this site to user submitted safety videos and toolbox talks. Here are some ideas of what to do. If you decide to start posting videos, don’t get bogged down with the head trash that another contractor has made a video with a similar topic. As long as someone in your marketplace hasn’t already made the same one, there is still plenty of room on the internet for you to add your own touch and philosophy on safety.
Couple things to keep in mind. If you are a construction firm, don’t make “funny” safety videos like the one below. OSHA can, and will fine you for videos and pictures of YOUR workers and job sites. But don’t let that dissuade you. If you are following the correct protocols and working safely, they will commend you on showing other not so smart contractors, the correct way to approach a safety issue.
Over the weekend, I was catching up on some reading of a few ski magazines that have been collecting dust on my coffee table. In this month’s issue of Powder, one of their contributing author’s wrote a piece on how to build a rescue sled, if you or one of your backcountry partners is injured in a way that leaves them unable to move on their own. Not planning on going into detail about how to do this, but the author, Mike Hattrup added an interesting point about why he teaches things like this, and why he brings safety equipment with him into the backcountry everytime.
I’ve never needed to build a rescue sled. But I’ve never needed my avalanche tranceiver, either, nor have I needed airbags in my car. The ability to build a rescue sled our of your skis is similar-it’s insurance. Like all insurance, you hope you never have to use it. But if you need it and don’t have it, you’re in a world of hurt. -Mike Hattrup
Take this philosophy to heart next time your insurance agent or broker suggests raising your General Liability Aggregate or increasing your umbrella. We all hope that we are never in a situation that requires a 5 or 10 million dollar umbrella to max out, but imagine what life would look like for you and your construction firm if you had to write that size of a check out of pocket. Would your doors open again?
At one point or another, no matter what line of work you are in, you will be examined/monitored/tested by some sort of ruling body, government entity, or oversight committee. Prior to joining the insurance and risk management industry, I held a variety of jobs that all had various types of checks and balances in place to make sure the job was done safely and/or hygienically. When I was the foreman for a team of chairlift operators for two winters in Colorado, someone from the Colorado Passenger Tramway Safety Board would come to the mountain once or twice a season and inspect each lift for its structural and mechanical integrity as well as quiz the lift operator on duty about various emergency and operational procedures. It was a given that the least capable member of the team that was on duty that day would conveniently go on lunch break about 10 minutes prior to when the Inspector was scheduled to arrive at the lift. The inspectors travel the mountain on skis, so other lift ops are able to inform their coworkers of what type of questions are going to be asked as well as having real time knowledge of when the inspector will show up at a given lift station. The lousy employee that was sent on break has the same amount of responsiblity on a day to day basis as his or her coworkers, but because of their ineptitude they were swept under the run when the inspector arrived. The goal was to get a spotless inspection, so the senior members of the staff that had a better knowledge of procedures and the machinery would handle the face to face interactions with the inspectors. Needless to say, the on/off ramps would be at a perfect angle with no icy areas, the lift shacks would be swept and the garbage emptied, and everyone would be dressed correctly in their uniforms. Does this sound familiar? Is this what happens before your job site or factory is inspected? At least in the realm of ski mountain operations, we work safely most of the time. However, there were times when we would climb on top of a spinning lift to clear snow instead of having it drip on to the guests, we would allow cold guests into our shacks to warm up if they were really cold, and we would smoke cigarettes behind the shack when no one was around. All of these things were against the rules in the rulebook, but it was done when no one was looking. What happens on your job site when no one is looking? Are your guys working unsafely because it’s faster and they can go home earlier? Do they show up hungover or still drunk because they know supervision will be light or non-existent that day? The job of a construction company owner as well as the owner of a ski hill need to make safety part of the culture. The mountain I worked at didn’t have that culture because clearing snow and getting people in their early 20s to show up for work at 5am on Saturday mornings to stand out in the cold for 8 hours were the priorities, and there wasn’t much time left for safety. Some of my coworkers were extremely competent and just working for the free ski pass, others were incompetent, lazy, and had extreme substance abuse problems and were working there because they couldn’t find a job elsewhere. Make safety part of your culture, don’t have a few people being the face of your company just for when OSHA comes by.
Below is the only safety video I saw for the two years I was the foreman on a ski lift crew. (I was in my early 20′s and didn’t know about the importance of safety. Does this sound like any of your laborers?) This is what happens if a safety brake fails, and the lift operator doesn’t engage the E-Brake in time. This test was done at Winter Park Resort in Colorado when they decided to run some tests prior to retiring the lift. If you’re ever on a chair lift that starts to spin backwards, jump off. Seriously.
‘Big Apple’ building fatalities fall by 80% in twelve months
It has been reported that construction site deaths fell 84% during 2009 according to statistics released by the New York City Building Department.
The number of reported deaths fell from 19 in 2008 to 3 in 2009. Nine of the deaths in 2008 were the result of two crane accidents on the East Side of Manhattan.
New York construction accident lawyers believe the number of deaths fell because: (a) overall building slowdown due to the recession and (b) stringent review of safety standards and regulations following the crane incidents and (c) stepped-up enforcement and increased oversight.
However, the number of other reported injuries rose from 178 to 246. The regulator explains the rise as due to increased reporting by contractors.
Even though the # of reported injuries has risen in the past year, I think it is a positive indicator of the direction in which the contracting industry is heading. More reported injuries is never a good thing, but I think that the fact that they are being reported more and more is. For most construction firms, Workers Compensation insurance is a very expensive line item year in and year out, and the old school mindset of “less claims=less premiums” led to a large amount of under recording and/or sweeping under the rug of workplace injuries. My intention is not that the Insurance Industry should get a pat on the back for this, but it is a trend that I hope is indicative of the results that the top insurance brokers are providing for their clients. Results that all construction firms should look for when they choose a broker.
Customized Safety Training from a 3rd Party provided by their broker
Proper training by insurance Brokers on reporting practices
Efficient claims management so that when a claim happens, it is minimized and closed with the least negative effect on the insured
A broker that spends the majority of their time working with the construction industry, and understanding what their construction clients need in terms of service as well as helping them to implement bulletproof contracts and coverages
Contractors: You are moving in the right direction, and proper safety training will prevent more and more injuries every year. Claims will happen in an industry with the amount of heavy equipment and physical labor that construction has, but proper reporting will lead to workers coming back faster from injury, less effect on experience mods, and by utilizing best practices in safety and loss control, the insurance underwriters will be begin to look more favorably on your risk.
Quitting smoking and getting more healthy is inconvenient as well as an uncomfortable pain in the ass. As long as you aren’t having any major health issues, there is little to be concerned about. Much like quitting smoking and getting in shape, to become a safer contractor you need to step out of your comfort zone and make safety your #1 priority. If you had been a lifelong smoker or an afficionado of Burger King, it isn’t comfortable to switch to being a non-smoker or someone who eats five helpings of fruits and vegetables daily. And it sure as hell isn’t a process that you can successfully undertake without time and assistance. Maybe the moment you decided to quit smoking was when your child was born. Or maybe you went to the doctor for a checkup and they told you that you needed to stop eating fried crap at every meal if you wanted to live past 60. These events are life altering and depending on which course of action you choose, can lead to a very positive(quitting your habit) or an extremely negative outcome(dying because of it). Your safety program, while not being perceived as important or foundation shaking, as child birth or a premature death can be just that. Especially if you and your family rely on YOUR construction company to put food on the table and a roof over your heads. A safety culture helps to make sure these things are a given as well as a constant. Right now, you do a pretty good job at safety. Either because of your leadership, or because of the competence of your work force. Due to economic constraints, you’ve probably had to lay off some of that workforce because of a lack of available projects for them to help with. When the economy rebounds, and it will, you will likely have to bring back a lot of foremen, laborers, and office staff. What is your safety policy going to look like for them? Is it going to fall by the wayside in lieu of getting “shovels in the ground”? Are you going to be in such a hurry to get jobs done, that you will sacrifice the safety of these workers for more speed and a bigger pay day? It might work for a while, but eventually, if you are running this type of offense, you WILL have a big claim. Much like if you keep smoking, it will eventually lead to a health problem. And when that claim happens, what is going to happen to your mod? Is it going to go over 1.0? Are you going to be able to bid work for the class-leading project owners and GCs with a mod over 1.o? Are the talented but currently out of work laborers going to want to work for a company with a perceived lack of a safety program? How much revenue will you lose because of a mod over 1.0? Not putting the resources into safety, can be just as harmful in the long run as burning money. Next time you are debating whether to put funds into other resources, take a long look at kind of funds it will take to keep your doors open when you aren’t able to bid work anymore.
If you have seen the critically acclaimed HBO series, The Wire, you may remember the phrase that all the neighborhood kids would say when the Robin Hood type character, Omar Little, would come strolling down the block…“Omar
Omar Comin'
Comin”. This usually meant that something pretty heavy was going to go down because Omar was the type of character that would usually leave someone having a very bad day before his visit was over. This type of visit is also typical of when OSHA comes by the office of a contractor or a construction jobsite because of a violation or a high number of claims that set off a red flag at OSHA HQ. As we transition in 2010, “we” can expect a lot more calls of OSHA Comin’. Dr. David Michaels was recently confirmed on December 03, 2009 as the new head of OSHA. In a blog post over at FDRSafety.com, the author of the blog, Jim Stanley expects Dr. Michaels to increase OSHA’s vigilance in the following areas:
Dr. Michaels’ agenda for OSHA begins with increased emphasis on enforcement, a focus on health standards and a push for penalty increases. His agenda also includes expedited rulemaking procedures.
I expect OSHA to accelerate current rulemaking on beryllium, silica, cranes and derricks, hazard communication and combustible dust. I also expect OSHA to initiate a new rulemaking to mandate minimum standards for occupational safety and health programs. (This is where OSHA will try to dictate what your safety program contains and requires!) I also believe OSHA will attempt to increase sampling for airborne substances and continue its emphasis on investigating OSHA-required recordkeeping.
In speaking with an associate who is a well-known leader in the field of Construction Safety, he mentioned that of the several OSHA compliance officers he has spoken with, they were told to “get out of the office”. Essentially meaning that the compliance officers who previously spent the majority of their time doing paperwork, are now going to be back in the field Enforcing and Penalizing violations.
What does this mean for contractors?
Surprise Inspections
Higher fines for willful violations
Monitoring of the proper posting of OSHA 300 Logs
and most importantly the enforcement of boilerplate safety regulations.
A little more hard hitting than the “carol forgot to wear her safety glasses, and now she doesn’t need them” posters.
From the 
1. Have a full tank of gas. You never know when you will get stuck, but being able to stay warm in the car/ recharge a dead phone/ and keep the headlights on to signal to rescuers is crucial.
5. Something red like an old t-shirt, bandanna, or underwear that you can affix to your antennae. If your car doesn’t have an antenna, use your onstar! This is so that rescuers can see you if your car has gone off the road.
‘Big Apple’ building fatalities fall by 80% in twelve months
