Residential Safety - The New Frontier
In the past twenty years, construction safety has made significant strides. Where fall protection was once unheard of, many large commercial contractors have adopted fall policies more stringent than the OSHA 1926 Subpart M requirements. Injury rates, while still unacceptable, have declined. Use of personal protective equipment is the norm on most commercial construction sites today.
Unfortunately, residential construction safety practices have not progressed at the same pace. A drive through a subdivision under construction today will typically show no use of fall technology and it is rare to see even basic safety equipment such as hard hats in use.
Small contractors who have no training, no safety program, and are often uninsured, perform most of the work.
Industry Data
BLS Data for this industry is suspect at best. Given the actual conditions observed on these jobsites, the following data showing fewer injuries in residential versus general construction must be questioned.
BLS DATA 2002
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|
Total Recordable Cases |
Cases with days away from work |
|
General Building Contractors |
6.2 |
2.3 |
|
Residential |
5.7 |
2.5 |
BLS DATA # of Fatal Cases 2002
|
|
# Cases |
% of total Occupational Fatalities |
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General Building Contractors |
189 |
3.4% |
|
Residential Construction |
92 |
1.7% |
|
Single Family Construction |
67 |
1.2% |
BLS Data is compiled from surveys sent to companies and does not include self-employed individuals, which makes up the majority of the workforce. Anecdotal evidence is that small builders, who have illegal immigrants injured or killed on their jobs, do not report the fatalities to OSHA. Therefore the scope of the problem is not well quantified.
In June 2004, Florida's Department of Worker's Compensation performed sweeps of residential job sites checking for uninsured, or under insured, contractors. Following are some of their findings:
In Naples, investigators visited a residential construction site where a concrete subcontractor was using 11 employees. A check of the employer's policy revealed that only four employees were covered by workers' compensation insurance. Had one of the non-covered employees suffered an injury, he could have been faced with no benefits.
On a visit to a beachfront condo construction site in Panama City, investigators shut down two subcontractors for failing to secure the proper insurance coverage. One of the subcontractors had purchased coverage but with employees classified as janitorial workers. Investigators observed the employees performing construction-related tasks on the third floor of the unfinished condo.
At a Pasco County residential construction site, investigators discovered a carpentry subcontractor with five employees who had no coverage. Investigators also cited the general contractor for failing to ensure that all subcontractors appropriately covered their employees.
Source: The Insurance Journal, Southeast News, June 2004
Alternative Fall Protection – The “Be Careful Program"
When OSHA's 1926.500, Subpart M was revised in 1994, the home building industry lobbied that conventional fall protection was not feasible in residential construction. At that time, fall technology was in its infancy for residential activities. These lobby efforts resulted in OSHA allowing alternative fall protection based on certain activities. (Interim Fall Protection Compliance Guidelines for Residential Construction Directive #STD 03-00-001).
Even the trade associations representing residential contractors do not promote the use of new fall protection technology on the market today and instead rely on alternative fall protection as the only solution. The recent alliance between OSHA and NAHB (National Association of Home Builders) does not even address fall protection issues.
In a few rare instances, some of the insurance carriers have been promoting the use of top plate scaffold systems such as Wall Walker and roof anchors by their insureds.
Alternative Fall Protection is not really fall protection at all. Alternative protection is based on the assumption that conventional fall protection is infeasible or creates a greater hazard. In this instance, a fall protection plan must be developed. The plan does not even have to be in writing. The plan is supposed to be communicated to employees.
The alternative fall protection measures are based on tasks including:
w Setting and bracing roof trusses
w Standing exterior walls
w Installing floor joists
w Installing roof sheathing and materials application
w Foundation work
For these activities, alternative fall protection consists of restricting access to those employees necessary to do the work and training employees to "be careful."
The Reality
In reality, most contractors are doing nothing and calling it alternative fall protection.
For example, one of the alternative measures for standing exterior walls is to spray paint a line six feet back from the deck edge. Access to the area between the line and the deck edge must be restricted to only those employees standing the wall. Not only would you be challenged to find this practice in use on any residential project, there is no protection provided to those employees most at risk from falls, those setting the walls.
In addition to the inherent weakness of the "be careful" program, the residential workforce is mainly subcontracted to small, mom and pop type contractors, who often have no safety program at all. The fact that many of the large homebuilders are taking a "hands off" approach to managing these subcontractors only compounds this problem.
Most of the homebuilder general contractors perceive they do not have to manage their subcontractors. They believe they will never see OSHA and if they do they will not be held responsible for their subcontractors under the multi-employer statute.
In most areas of the country, the bulk of the workforce represented by the small subcontractors is composed of Hispanic workers, who come from non-safety cultures, receive little or no training, and speak little English. Few general contractors provide safety training or resources for these small employers who cannot not afford to provide it for themselves.
Some general contractors have provided safety training to their subcontractors and are dismayed to find no improvement in safety on the jobsite. However, training in itself is not the magic bullet to solving this problem.
We can train the workers all day long, but without the promotion and enforcement of safe practices by the general contractors, the small contractors will revert to a production culture. If the bottom line is production at any cost, and contracts are awarded to the lowest priced contractor who can perform the task in the shortest period of time, no real change in safety can be expected.
The NAHB alliance is built around OSHA providing training to Spanish speaking employees. In our opinion, OSHA would be better served in this case to increase enforcement among general contractors through use of the multi-employer worksite policy in residential safety.
Fall Technology
A great deal of new fall technology is now available for residential construction.
Setting roof trusses can be accomplished from a guard railed platform through the use of lightweight scaffolding that hangs over the top plate. This system can also be used, in some instances, as a catch platform for sheathing and roofing materials applications.
(www.wallwalker.com)
Roofing activities can also be done using temporary or permanent roof anchors that attach to the ridge allowing the use of PFAS.
Truss anchors when properly installed, provide fall protection for HVAC, electrical, and insulating trades. Some companies have developed movable truss anchors.
Residential safety netting systems are widely used in Europe but rarely seen in the U.S.
The use of proper scaffolding can provide safe work platforms to conduct many tasks.
At least one provider has a device that allows for installation of horizontal lifelines for use by framers.
(www.safetypole.com)
The safety strap system allows for fall protection in multiple scenarios, and is very affordable.
(www.safetystrap.com)
Solutions
Leadership by Major Builders
Leadership by large general contractors and trade associations to move from alternative to conventional fall protection is needed. If the major general contractors level the playing field by requiring positive fall protection by their subcontractors, there will be less resistance on the part of these subcontractors. Currently, the subcontractors have a valid complaint when they point out that fall equipment is costly. To fairly compete with other contractors the requirements need to be the same for all parties.
There are also best practices in common use by general construction that could be adopted by this industry. Construction of the entire roof or sections of the roof on the ground and setting them with a crane is one such practice, as recommended by the Wood Truss Council of America.
Resistance
A frequent complaint by trade contractors is that the use of safety equipment will hinder productivity. A recent study by one company demonstrated an increase in productivity when using their product.
Another complaint is the cost of fall equipment. Although there is an upfront investment, the cost of the equipment can be spread over many jobs, and pales in comparison to the impact of accidents on insurance costs, and more importantly the toll on the worker and their family.
In many cases, general contractors can help to defray the costs of equipment through various means of financial support.
This resistance to change is the same old story we heard twenty years ago in commercial construction. It wasn't justified then and it isn't justified now. The real barriers to change are not equipment costs or productivity issues, but rather the inevitable resistance to change when moving from a production culture to a safety culture.
What's Next
In conclusion, the technology needed for industry-wide implementation is here. It is time for OSHA to repeal the alternative fall directive.
Increased OSHA enforcement may be the only effective motivator to bring residential safety practices to the level of typical commercial construction practices. Until this "be careful" practice is outlawed, we will continue to lose lives to archaic safety practices.
Vice President
PROSAFE Solutions
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