We were a day behind in our inspection period because the bank did not notify us until a day later. We called Aaron, left a detailed voice message... Read More » View All Testimonials →
With pending regulations undergoing re-reviews and new restrictions on operating standards looming, it’s a poor time to be uninformed in the construction industry. There’s plenty to be said for upcoming changes to your local job site, so if you feel you haven’t been keeping up to date with big changes that might directly impact your workplace, you’ve come to the right place.
If you have been keeping up with recent news, you’d still be wise to read on about fines and punishment further down the list, especially if you feel you might have a health and safety fine that could make or break your budget this year. You might just find an unusual method of getting a financial break if you play your cards right!
Silica and You: Upcoming Silica Regulation Changes
This isn’t a new development by any stretch of the imagination. Originally proposed back in 2013, silica dust has caught a rather nasty comparison to asbestos exposure in relation to construction worker deaths and its effects on the human body. At best, exposure to such a fine dust can be irritating and difficult to work with, but a worst-case scenario tells a tale of silicosis, a potentially fatal scarring of the lungs caused by repeated or serious exposure to silica dust.
Even though individual airborne particles of silica may be finer than sand, the damage they can do to unprotected workers is severe enough that it spurred OSHA to action, leading to new guidelines under effect as of a few scant days from this time of writing.
If your crew’s work produces a measurable amount of silica dust from its daily operations there are a bevy of new guidelines to work under. Wet saws, proper ventilation and breathing protection and even a written guide on how your company plans to avoid silica dust exposure and a chosen method to control it may be in your future, as each company will be expected to assign someone specifically to the task of handling exposure.
Criticism is already rolling in under a barrage of comments, several of which focus on the feasibility of gathering proper silica dust readings and the extent of work that may be required to handle this new threat.
Is it worth all the fuss? Considering the damage done by asbestos in the past century and its lingering effects on those who came in contact with it, it’s hard to imagine letting its cousin in spirit continue to be produced wholly unchecked.
Crane Regulations Are Still up in the Air
Implementation for updated crane operator regulations were set to go into effect way back in 2014, but there’s a chance they won’t see the light of day until Nov. 2018 at the earliest.
While not as much a pressing issue for smaller construction crews, larger operations may face a stricter series of guidelines for handling operations in areas with excess wind, up to and including the disallowed use of cranes in areas with winds over thirty miles per hour.
Financial concerns may follow as advisory boards have suggested outfitting cranes with new equipment to better track speed of operation and local weather conditions, while older crane models may be phased out of the workplace entirely.
Accident Forgiveness May Have Unseen Costs
If you’ve been cited over a workplace OSHA violation lately, there is yet hope: up to half of contested citations receive a discount. The catch? You may have to spend a little extra money tightening up other workplace issues to make up for the fine you’d be paying otherwise.
While this may sound counterproductive, the ideals behind reducing fines in the construction industry in exchange for work site redesign are fairly sound: If you reduce the risk of future accidents, you’ll likely save more lives than through fine-related punishment. It’s not unusual for larger business to consider an OSHA fine to just be another cost of operation. It’s just another unfortunate truth in a business where costs can be so high that a fine in the thousands of dollars just isn’t worth fighting over.
Finding a way out of a fine may not be that simple, however, as only half of those contested fines averaged out to a reduced amount, but you can play it safe and ensure employees are properly trained and your site is up to snuff via regulation training and seminars with a focus on reducing the likelihood of workplace tragedy.
Conclusion
Until the construction industry settles down again and regulations move into place, ensure you keep up with looming regulation changes as they happen. With OSHA doling out fines in the thousands of dollars over silica dust exposure as rates of silicosis in construction workers continue to rise, being caught unprepared is an easy way to lose a chunk of operating funds as 2018 approaches.
Author Bio: Vincent West is a guest blogger and a Work Boot Critic contributing author. He has a high interest in everything related to the construction industry, especially in occupational health and safety.
An article in the latest edition of the Journal of Light Construction, the leading trade magazine to the home building industry, discusses just a few of the hundreds of construction defects I encounter every day while inspecting new homes.Construction Defects Article JLC
McKinney, Texas is no small fry. It is one of the largest suburbs in the 4th largest metropolitan area in the nation. It is also among the top 10 fastest growing cities of over 100,000 population in the nation. Of course, this means there is a lot of home building going on in this city in northern Collin County.
I have performed many inspections of houses in McKinney over the past 20 years. While in the process of doing research for an inspection I had scheduled at the end of this week I happened upon their website which has a slick professionally-made video singing the praises of their building inspectors. In it the announcer clearly states how last year 12 technicians inspected 60,000 houses. She also adds that this is not a process to be rushed. I guess she never did the math. Additionally, the lady mentioned that this seems to be a daunting task. That is a monumental understatement.
Let’s take a look at the math, shall we?
So, 60,000 inspections by 12 technicians means each did 5,000 inspections last year. Impressive. I can barely manage 200 in a very good year.
If one figures the average 260-day work year that equals 19.2 inspections per day. Wow! One per day is all I can muster.
If one assumes an 8-hour work day and then subtracts a 10-minute drive between each of these and an hour for lunch one is left with 12.5 minutes on each site. Speedy indeed! My inspection times average 2.25 hours onsite with eyes on the house plus another 2.5 hours report writing. This does not include research time, scheduling, time spent answering client questions both onsite and later via phone or email.
This, of course, assumes that the technicians never have to answer the call of nature, get caught in traffic between stops, stop by the convenience store for a coffee, talk on the phone, confer with builders or other inspectors, go to mandatory office meeting, study the building codes, go to seminars, fill out paperwork, nothing. Just hard-nosed, all-work kind of guys. My hat is off to them.
Did you know that the average American worker, while eliciting sympathy about how they work 60-hour weeks, actually only works on what they were employed to do for about 3 to 3.5 hours per day, or 17.5 hours per week? But, perhaps I digress. Maybe McKinney has located the crack employees of the universe for roughly $45K in salary per year. Kudos McKinney!
2014 Energy Code Adoption Report, after studying code officials and inspectors in the 213 most populous Texas cities that only a little more than half of Texas municipalities required code certification for their inspectors? The study stated in part,
“Through our survey of building code officials we identified that there is consensus that the permit offices and staff need to be better supported to take on this important enforcement role. Not unlike the fire department, their enforcement can help to prevent house fires and plumbing leaks that are life threatening and expensive to repair. However they report that they are typically:
Short on time and/or staff to complete adequate inspections.
There is a need for education or training, but only half reported that the certification was required for the job, and it is difficult to get time or funding to go to training.
Salary levels make it difficult to fill the positions as they become avail
In this survey, building code officials also suggested that these barriers to code enforcement are similar within all the building trades. In the summer months when building industry is at its peak, there is little time to do adequate training, so they rely on the building inspectors to check their contractors’ work, or to let them know if there is an issue in the plan review. This requires the building inspectors and plan reviewers to spend even more time working to educate and inform
builders and contractors regarding standards and codes.”
While it is almost certain that the city of McKinney requires code certification from their inspectors, are they really that good? Can they work like madmen under these conditions of extreme work overload for relatively little compensation?
Who do you want inspecting your new home that costs hundreds of thousands of dollars? The guy who can spare a mere 12.5 minutes running through the jobsite or the man who literally spends hours meticulously cataloging construction defects in your new home?
How is it then that we come to this dilemma? In short, Texas is builder- and big business-friendly to a fault. Through manipulation of every facet of their industry they manage to avoid almost any meaningful oversight of their activities. They are not regulated by the state and require no licenses or bonds. The contractors working on your home are, for the most part, not licensed either. Only the plumbers, HVAC technicians, and electricians are licensed. The last of those was only required to be state-licensed in 2005.
Please, do not think for a minute that this is in any way intended to be disrespectful of the hard workers at the city of McKinney or other DFW cities. They have an impossible job. The intent is to show you only a piece of the puzzle that, when fully assembled, will give you a glimpse into how the corrupt Texas home building industry with its predatory corporate practices is taking advantage of home buyers like you.
