Posted by Dan Phelan on Thu, Aug 05, 2010 @ 10:07 AM
Unfortunately, in the last three years, the construction industry as seen more crane related accidents than they would have liked. Several of which were very preventable. The most notorious of these crane accidents took place in Manhattan in March of 2008 when a 200 foot crane collapsed onto a building, completely decimating a townhouse and leaving 7 people dead.
And then in May of 2008, also in NYC, another collapse claimed the lives of two construction workers.The old OSHA rules for Crane and Derrick safety has been in place since 1971 and because of advances in technology and techniques, an overhaul was necessary and the very public crane constructoin incidents, unfortunately, were the impetus to speed up this overhaul. Here are a few of the major updates that will come into effect at the end of the year. To read the whole final ruling go HERE
A few highlights from osha.gov:
- The rule becomes effective 90 days after August 9, 2010, the date the final rule will be published in the Federal Register. Certain provisions have delayed effective dates ranging from 1 to 4 years.
- A copy of the regulatory text is available at: http://www.osha.gov/doc/cranesreg.pdf
- Until the date of publication, the full rule, including the preamble, can be found at http://www.ofr.gov/inspection.aspx. After publication, the rule can be found at the Federal Register or at www.osha.gov.
- This new standard will comprehensively address key hazards related to cranes and derricks on construction worksites, including the four main causes of worker death and injury: electrocution, crushed by parts of the equipment, struck-by the equipment/load, and falls.
- Significant requirements in this new rule include: a pre-erection inspection of tower crane parts; use of synthetic slings in accordance with the manufacturer's instructions during assembly/disassembly work; assessment of ground conditions; qualification or certification of crane operators; and procedures for working in the vicinity of power lines.
- This final standard is expected to prevent 22 fatalities and 175 non-fatal injuries each year.
- Several provisions have been modified from the proposed rule. For example:
- Employers must comply with local and state operator licensing requirements which meet the minimum criteria specified in § 1926.1427.
- Employers must pay for certification or qualification of their currently uncertified or unqualified operators.
- Written certification tests may be administered in any language understood by the operator candidate.
- When employers with employees qualified for power transmission and distribution are working in accordance with the power transmission and distribution standard (§ 1910.269), that employer will be considered in compliance with this final rule's requirements for working around power lines.
- Employers must use a qualified rigger for rigging operations during assembly/disassembly.
- Employers must perform a pre-erection inspection of tower cranes.
- This final rule requires operators of most types of cranes to be qualified or certified under one of the options set forth in § 1926.1427. Employers have up to 4 years to ensure that their operators are qualified or certified, unless they are operating in a state or city that has operator requirements.
- If a city or state has its own licensing or certification program, OSHA mandates compliance with that city or state's requirements only if they meet the minimum criteria set forth in this rule at § 1926.1427.
- The certification requirements in the final rule are designed to work in conjunction with state and local laws.
- This final rule clarifies that employers must pay for all training required by the final rule and for certification of equipment operators employed as of the effective date of the rule
- State Plans must issue job safety and health standards that are “at least as effective as” comparable federal standards within 6 months of federal issuance. State Plans also have the option to promulgate more stringent standards or standards covering hazards not addressed by federal standards.
- OSHA will have additional compliance assistance material available within the next month.
Construction Risk Advisors has the ball rolling on Connecticut safety training for whatever needs our contractor clients have. We will be upgrading our safety training options to include the new crane regs as soon as we can. So, if you're reading this, and you own a crane or rigging company in Connecticut, give us a call to get you and your crew up to speed. With the public crane incidents in the last 5 years, I have a hunch that OSHA is going to be very proactive in their enforcement of these new requirements.
Do you have any thoughts on the issue? Think any of the new regs are too heavy handed? Please leave a comment. We would love for this blog to become a place where Connecticut construction companies can interact with each other about what is going on in their backyard as well as in their industry.
Posted by Debbi Kuhne on Fri, Jul 09, 2010 @ 09:03 AM
You don’t wake up one day saying to yourself “From now on I’ll be safe”. Being safe is being aware, it’s a learned activity and it becomes a habit. Do you lock the doors in your home? Do you look both ways when crossing a street? These were things that were brought to your attention as safety hazards, you learned what the proper way to prevent an injury was and it became habit. You need to do the same thing with Workplace and Construction Jobsite Safety!
Awareness is the first step in the process. Do your employees know the hazards of the jobsite? You might want to include discussion of the specific job site hazards in your weekly toolbox talks.
The next step is training. If an employee is working in an unsafe manor, allowing him or her to continue will not bring safety to the workplace. Nor will just yelling at them or disciplining them for being unsafe. You need to advise the employee of the unsafe operation and teach them how to do it safely and properly.
The final step is reinforcement of proper and safe workhabits. I have heard that it takes 2 weeks to form a new habit and 2 weeks to break an old one. So, reinforcement and reminders will help to make safe workplace practices the new habit on your jobsites!
Think of the upside to preventing construction injuries:
- Not having to deal with an insurance claim
- Not having an increase in your construction insurance premiums because of the claim
- Not having OSHA visit to investigate the claim
- Keeping your experience mod low, and in doing so not hurting your ability to bid jobs or work for specific general contractors
- Not having to spend money to replace and retrain a new worker to replace the injured one
Posted by Dan Phelan on Wed, Jun 23, 2010 @ 08:02 AM
One in a Million. A phrase that has been mentioned many, if not hundreds of times since the Deep Water Horizon Oil Rig sank over two months ago in April 2010. It has been mentioned by numerous sources that BP has a reputation for being less than prudent with their risk management efforts. We saw the result of this in 2005 when their Texas City refinery exploded, killing 15 and injuring almost 200 more, and then again this year when the Deep Water Horizon Rig sank, killing 11 and injuring 17. The explosion notwithstanding, I'm still very curious why a company would dig a mile down into the ocean without any plan to stop it if it were to rupture. The reason is that this was a Black Swan event. An event that no one seriously anticipated, and an event that BP CEO Tony Hayward considered one in a million. He acknowledged that it was possible, but the chances were less that slim to none that it would happen during his tenure at BP, and therefore didn't see any reason to spend time or money on a plan to contend with a worst case scenario.
Let's change it around a little. Say you're a Connecticut construction company, shopping your insurance around. You send your agent out to 15 different insurance markets and have them come back with prices. Even if those 15 insurers did offer you pricing, no agency has the time or resources to be able to comprehensively compare 15 different insurance policies to each other. Especially the types of policies that are written for construction insurance. But that doesn't matter, because you got a good price and have never had a major claim and your agent takes you golfing sometimes. It's tough to compare a run of the mill Connecticut construction insurance policy with a fully self-insured entity like BP, but the correlations between haphazard risk management definitely exist.
In my time in this industry, I've spent a solid chunk of time talking to contractors about insurance. It is extremely rare that there is ever a discussion initiated by the contractor that revolves around buying the coverage to fully cover their risk for everything that could happen in their course of work. More often than not, these conversations center around buying just enough coverage to be able to bid on work, rather than buy anything that isn't explicitly required by an upstream contract. But what happens when one of your heavies crashes into a school bus because the operator was texting on their phone? Is a 2 million dollar umbrella going to be enough? What happens when you're working near water and you dump a barrel of hydraulic fluid into the local water table? Did you skimp on a pollution policy because you've never had a pollution claim before? These, and similar types of losses occur to contractors every year, and more often than not will not only exponentially jack up your insurance rates and make it very hard to secure insurance via standard markets, but they have the very realistic potential to put your company out of business. The company with your last name on the trucks. The company your great grandfather started with 2 pickups and a few shovels. Is it worth it to save a thousand dollars a year on your construction insurance?
I wonder if Tony Hayward is wondering if he ‘bought enough insurance'? His company has much deeper pockets than yours, and they've already paid two billion out. By the time business interruption claims start coming up, or a hurricane blows tarballs of oil a mile inland, they'll be reaching further and further into their pockets.
We know that money is extremely tight right now for Connecticut construction firms, and that a low price on insurance can make the difference between making payroll or not, but this buying on price alone mentality existed well before the economy went down the tubes. Instead of saving money, save your company. Protect it from every risk that could befall it. Even the black swan one in a million claim.
If you don't want your company to be the next BP, give Construction Risk Advisors a call. Their staff has over 100 years building and servicing bulletproof Connecticut Construction Insurance policies. We know what can happen, and we know how to help you prevent it through contractual risk transfer, as well as make sure you have the right coverage in place when it does.
Posted by Robert Phelan on Thu, Jun 03, 2010 @ 12:51 PM
That may not be a fair question because it assumes you have a risk management program. Most mid-sized construction companies don't have one. At least not a formal one. It's more likely that they just have a construction insurance program that is reviewed annually.
If you did have one, what would it look like? And if you'll forgive my boating analogy (I'm looking out the window at beautiful sunny skies and wish I was riding the waves right now), is your risk management program propelling you forward or keeping you anchored in place?
If you had a risk management program it would start with strategic objectives. Just like any strategic objective a construction company might have, you would then put a plan in place to achieve it. Let's start with the strategic objectives and consider what they might look like.
• Reduce our OSHA lost time cases by 15%
• Reduce the average lost time case value by 22%
• Reduce our EMR (Experience Mod Rate) by 3 points each year until we reach our lowest possible EMR
• Average Return to Work reduced to three business days
With these objectives in place, what might be some of the action items in your construction risk management plan?
• Review your hiring practices with an eye toward the applicant's ability to physically do the job
• Train supervisors to understand the financial impact of claims and proper accident investigation to eliminate recurrence
• Create partnership with local occupational health clinic to understand treatment protocols and return to work policy
• Establish an effective safety committee that meets quarterly
If this doesn't sound like your construction company, you're not alone. When I talk to prospective customers for the first time, almost none of them have any kind of risk management plan (most have never heard of such a thing). Why should risk management be any different than other critical areas subject to financial measurement? You are certainly going to measure the profitability of a job. You are certainly going to measure productivity on a job. Then why aren't you going to measure the Cost of Risk?
The answer is simple. You don't know how. No one has ever taught you or assisted you. And why is that? Because the people who should be focused on helping you don't know how to manage risk either. They manage insurance. You know them as your insurance agent. Once a year they focus on the "price" of your insurance. Unfortunately, this short term focus on insurance price can lead to a long term disaster on cost.
Back to my boating analogy. If your risk management program is propelling you forward, you are making continual progress at reducing your total cost of risk. Soon your costs will be lower than other construction companies and you will have a competitive advantage. If you're anchored in place, your smart competitors will soon be beating you.
If you'd like to implement a risk management plan and put your cost of risk on a downward trend forever, contact us to see how a Risk Advisor is different from an insurance agent.
Posted by Debbi Kuhne on Wed, Jun 02, 2010 @ 12:13 PM
Developing job descriptions can be one of the most daunting tasks for a construction company. Where do you start? What needs to be included? Are they really that important anyway?
Read on and you will find the answers to these questions and more.
Start with a few simple lines of the basic job, special licenses required, computer program knowledge, and management skill necessities. Enlist the employee themselves and/or their supervisor to help with a brief outline of the job. Now on to the most important area, the essential functions of the job.
The essential functions of the job section is the most important, and the real nuts and bolts of the job will be included here. You need to address everything from length of time each day the individual will sit, stand, bend, stoop, kneel; to how often they will need to climb a ladder and how high the highest ladder would be. An important item to include, especially in the Construction industry, but really in any industry is lifting requirements.
How heavy are items they need to move or carry, and how often do they perform this function? Do they operate manufacturing or heavy equipment machines? Any duties that are usually done by the employee in that position or that can only be performed by the employee in that position are essential!
So, why is this important? First of all job descriptions greatly assist the physicians and claim adjusters with returning an injured construction worker to the job. If the employer does not provide the physician with a list of the essential functions of the job, all the physician can go by is what the injured worker is telling them!
In addition to assisting with returning an injured worker to the job, there are ADA(Americans w/Disabilities Act) regulations to deal with. Employers with 20 or more employees are subject to ADA.
Under the ADA regulations employers must provide "reasonable accommodation" to those individuals who qualify under ADA. Amending an essential function of the job may not be a reasonable accommodation - unless of course it can be modified. But how will you be able to make the decision about a "reasonable accommodation" if you don't have the job description with the essential functions listed?
The final statement on any job description should be a disclaimer clause. It should read something like this: "This job description is intended to describe the general nature and level of the work being performed by people assigned to this job. This is not an exhaustive list of all duties and responsibilities. Management reserves the right to amend and change responsibilities to meet business and organizational needs as necessary."
Hopefully now you realize the im
portance of having job descriptions, how they can actually assist the employer and have some idea of where to start!
Are you a Connecticut Construction Company Owner that would like some more guidance on developing job descriptions for your employees? The pros at
Construction Risk Advisors would be happy to help. Please give us a
call or drop us an email. Don't let the workers in that picture be yours!
Posted by Dan Phelan on Tue, May 25, 2010 @ 10:04 AM
We have a few FREE seats available on a first come, first serve basis!
CONNECTICUT CONTRACTORS: Are You Prepared for OSHA to Knock on Your Door or Visit your Jobsite unannounced?
OSHA inspections can be stressful and confusing at the same time. Companies should prepare for these inspections which could come at any time.
• Does your construction compnay have the qualified resources in-house to conduct a total review of your safety program, a review that will prepare you for all OSHA related enforcement initiatives?
• Are you completely confident that your safety policies, procedures and practices will hold up to scrutiny during an OSHA inspection?
• OSHA fines can run as high as $7,000 for a serious violation or up to $70,000 for a willful violation - not counting the costs of the negative publicity associated with such sanctions
• This program is designed to provide participants with the tools they need to inspect and review their company's safety program and practices, to insure the safety of their workers, and compliance with the dozens of OSHA regulations that apply to their business.
Registration: 8:45 a.m. Seminar: 9:00-11:30 a.m.
Presenter: Adam Drummond, President of National Safety Services
Location: TIMEXPO-The Timex Museum, Waterbury, CT
To register: seminar@litchfieldins.com or 860.618.1143
If you can't make it to the seminar, but would like to learn more about preparing your Connecticut construction company for an OSHA visit. Contact the Construction Insurance Specialists at Construction Risk Advisors
Posted by Debbi Kuhne on Thu, May 06, 2010 @ 12:51 PM
We've all heard of it - light duty, modified duty, restricted duty, and transitional duty. Regardless of what you call it, you have an injured worker who can't do their regular job and the claim adjuster is asking you to bring them back to work!
Employers and HR personnel struggle with this daily, and it seems construction companies usually have the most difficulty in developing jobs within the worker's restrictions. So should you even bother to try? The answer is absolutely Yes!
First and foremost it has been proven that keeping an injured construction worker in their normal routine (getting up, going to work, etc) helps in the recovery process. Next is the fact that by providing modified duty work you are sending the message to employees that having a work related injury does not automatically result in time off from the job. Finally, by bringing the injured worker back it is helping to reduce the claim costs and thus have a more positive effect on your experience mod.
It's a good idea to have pre-developed modified duties or jobs. We all have things we would like to accomplish, if we only had some extra time. Start keeping a running list of these and you have started your modified duty list!
So the next time the adjuster asks if you have modified duty available, don't sigh and roll your eyes - pull out your list, say yes and get that employee back to work!
Need help developing a Return to Work program for your construction firm? We can help! There are other options than just having your injured worker counting paperclips and shredding paper. Get in touch with one of the Construction Risk Advisors and we can guide you as well as help prevent the injury in the first place!
Posted by Robert Phelan on Thu, Apr 29, 2010 @ 01:54 PM
As I skimmed Saturday's Wall Street Journal, I saw a handsome couple featured in an ad for fractional jet ownership. The caption read, "Avantair allows us to be more productive and efficient as a law firm". My immediate thought was, "What kind of law firm uses a private jet?" I found the answer at their website.
They listed twelve settlements on their home page ranging from $350 million (United States record) all the way down to a measly $12 million. I guess that explains the jet as does the sub-header under their name, "Over $800 million in Verdicts and Recoveries". I believe that plaintiff's attorneys get 30-40% for their fee so on the conservative side that's $240 million. Not bad for a two person, husband and wife law firm!
You might think that your Connecticut construction company could never be exposed to the type of liability that would attract a law firm like this. Think again. Any business owner could go bankrupt tomorrow if they get on the wrong end of a lawsuit and lack the proper insurance coverage.
Here's a quick sampling of their settlements:
• $23.4 million against a drunk driver who killed three people. $13.5 million of the verdict was for punitive damages, uncovered by insurance. How certain are you that no one is ever drunk behind the wheel of one of your company vehicles?
• $25 million verdict for a man who fell while inspecting a building. Do you own any property? Could someone fall from a height of 12 feet? That's what happened here. (The verdict was in 1998. What would it be worth in 2010? $50 million?)
• $12 million for amputations due to electric shock
• In Miami-Dade County, Florida a jury awarded a 78-year-old woman and her husband $20.98 million for the injuries that she suffered in a car crash that left her on a ventilator for live. The plaintiff sued the driver and the driver's employer. The woman's attorneys successfully argued that the defendant driver was so distracted that he made no attempt to stop and slammed into the rear of the woman's car. After subpoenaing the employee driver's cell phone records they proved that he had been on the cell phone talking at the time. The case settled for $16.1 million five days after the verdict.
Connecticut construction company owners can't think they are immune from the liability described in the suits above. If you own property and you have employees and you own vehicles and equipment, you have the potential for a devastating lawsuit.
You need to change your buying criteria for insurance today. Contractors tend to go for the "fools gold" of cheap insurance. Don't you do that! You've worked hard to build your construction company. Get a good advisor and protect it with the right insurance coverage.
Posted by Robert Phelan on Wed, Apr 28, 2010 @ 12:38 PM
Would Massey Energy have lost twenty-nine workers in a mining accident on April 5th if safety training was a strong cultural value? Would Toyota have recalled 2.3 million vehicles in January of 2010 if safety was of paramount concern in the design of their cars?
I think the answer to both these questions is, "No". These companies were not focused on safety and it cost people their lives.
Google either one of these safety disasters and you'll get tired of hitting the "Next" button after the 10th page. In the short run, and maybe forever, both these companies have seriously tarnished their image. The public thinks company profit was more important than human lives. Who wants to be known for that?
Connecticut Contractors of all types are involved in dangerous work every day. If there was an unfortunate disaster on one of your jobsites, would your safety training practices stand up to the scrutiny of the press? How much would your reputation suffer? How long would you be on OSHA's "hit list"? How well would you be able to document your company's safety practices?
Unfortunately, many Connecticut construction firms don't consider safety training in their strategic plans. Nor do they consider the safety training capabilities of the insurance agent or insurance company they choose each year. Far too often the focus is on price and risk management is ignored.
Who is protecting your company's reputation? Risk management is not about buying cheap insurance. If you have an insurance agent whose only focus is selling you cheap insurance, you've hired the wrong one. Don't wait to see your name in the paper before getting a risk advisor who helps make safety your highest priority.
Posted by Dan Phelan on Mon, Apr 05, 2010 @ 01:10 PM
As of October 2009, a new law is in force to protect emergency vehicles and their operators during emergencies on Connecticut's highways.
AN ACT ESTABLISHING A "MOVE OVER" LAW IN CONNECTICUT (LINK)
SUMMARY: This act requires a motorist approaching one or more stationary emergency vehicles located on the travel lane, breakdown lane, or shoulder of a highway with three or more travel lanes to (1) immediately slow to a reasonable speed below the posted speed limit and (2) if traveling in the lane adjacent to the location of the emergency vehicle, move over one lane, unless this would be unreasonable or unsafe.
For these requirements to apply, the emergency vehicle must have flashing lights activated. Under the act, an "emergency vehicle" includes a vehicle:
1. operated by a member of an emergency medical service organization responding to an emergency call;
2. operated by a fire department or by an officer of the department responding to a fire or other emergency;
3. operated by a sworn member of the State Police or an organized local police department;
4. that is a maintenance vehicle; or
5. that is a licensed wrecker.
A subsequent act broadened the provision as it applies to police officers to include other types of law enforcement officers such as Department of Motor Vehicle (DMV) inspectors and appointed constables who perform criminal law enforcement duties (see BACKGROUND).
A violation of these requirements is an infraction, unless the violation results in the injury or death of the emergency vehicle operator, in which case the fines are a maximum of $2,500 and $10,000 respectively.
EFFECTIVE DATE: October 1, 2009
Thanks to our friends at CNA for the heads up on this.