Protective Caps on Rebar and Enforcement

[jar546]

Who here has verbiage in a local ordinance, or state statute that addresses job site safety and capping the ends of exposed rebar? We know this is an OSHA issue, but who out there has the authority to enforce this based on the rules and regulations you work under.

No cowboy, do as I say crap. I am looking for statutes and adopted ordinances.

 

[Mr. Inspector]

My company gives me the right to not go into an unsafe work environment. I don't need anything else for myself. I can only enforce chapter 33 of the IBC for safety. I stand out in a lot of commercial construction sites most of the time as the only one with safety equipment like a helmet, safety vest or harness.

 

[Inspector Gadget]

Yesterday I did an inspection on a site with damn sketchy ladders. I told the contractor that the next time, they better have better and secure ladders otherwise I'm failing them outright and not coming back for 24 hours - and damn the fact you have concrete trucks booked for the afternoon. You pour without an inspection, and all heck breaks loose.

 

[jar546]

My company gives me the right to not go into an unsafe work environment. I don't need anything else for myself. I can only enforce chapter 33 of the IBC for safety. I stand out in a lot of commercial construction sites most of the time as the only one with safety equipment like a helmet, safety vest or harness.

So your method of enforcement is to not do the inspection which is a viable alternative. This may force the contractor to comply based on your safety. Nice.

 

[ICE]

method of enforcement is to not do the inspection

Hold your Ducati there pardner... ain't that a cowboy move?

 

[jar546]

Hold your Ducati there pardner... ain't that a cowboy move?

I think it is a legitimate alternative.

 

[ICE]

I think it is a legitimate alternative.

I did it hundreds of times. On one occasion the contractor told me about his experience with a pair of teenagers crossing through his job site on a weekend. The girl was impaled through her thigh. The boy went in another ambulance due to severe shock. The girl lost so much blood that she nearly died. And here he did it again. I took that as a reason to mistreat him.

 

[Yankee Chronicler]

I think it is a legitimate alternative.

Morally, I agree.

Legally? Extremely doubtful.

 

[jar546]

Morally, I agree.

Legally? Extremely doubtful.

There is an unsafe condition that an employer cannot force an employee to enter. This is a recognized unsafe condition by OSHA that is common knowledge. While we do not enforce OSHA standards, that Federal Standard has established that exposed rebar is an unsafe/hazardous condition. If the inspector feels as though the job site is unsafe, he/she does not have to enter it.

If you arrived on a job site to perform a roof sheathing inspection and there was only an old wooden 30' ladder with cracks on the sides and worn rungs that was not tied up at the top and it was raining, would you go up on the roof for the inspection? An unsafe condition is simply that a situation that does not warrant the risk of injury. We've dealt with this before, where homemade ladders were put in place for access and one of my plumbing inspectors who was about 275lbs and fit, refused to climb it, therefore the inspection was not performed. It is not illegal to force your employees to put themselves in unsafe conditions.

 

[tmurray]

So your method of enforcement is to not do the inspection which is a viable alternative. This may force the contractor to comply based on your safety. Nice.

This was one of our stronger methods as well. If it's not safe for them, it's probably not safe for you.

 

[tmurray]

Morally, I agree.

Legally? Extremely doubtful.

Our lawyer reviewed this practice. He clarified that our employees did not have the "power" to decline to enter an unsafe site for inspection, they MUST decline to enter an unsafe site.

After all, the contractor can simply call a workplace health and safety inspector to come and give their job site a clean bill of health.

The right to receive an inspection does not supersede the right for an employee's safety at work.

 

[Inspector Gadget]

Our lawyer reviewed this practice. He clarified that our employees did not have the "power" to decline to enter an unsafe site for inspection, they MUST decline to enter an unsafe site.

A few of my reports were nothing more than
"Unable to enter site due to unsafe working conditions. Please call for re-inspection when this has been rectified." With pictures.

I should have the Worksafe email address on file now .... Shipping them a copy of my next version of this would be .... interesting.

 

[Keystone]

My company gives me the right to not go into an unsafe work environment. I don't need anything else for myself. I can only enforce chapter 33 of the IBC for safety. I stand out in a lot of commercial construction sites most of the time as the only one with safety equipment like a helmet, safety vest or harness.

This is how the 3rd party I worked with FT handled it.
In addition to this, they have a regional OSHA contact and are advised to reach out.

It may be different for 3rd parties VS municipalities. As a 3rd party inspector, you are onsite and view a safety violation and that site happens to be the recipient of a drop in visit from OSHA while you are onsite or worse yet, an accident, broadly speaking, everyone on the jobsite through the eyes of OSHA is party to the violation and subject to OSHA penalty.

I view OSHA as an attorney, sue everyone and sort it out in court. Or in my humble view of OSHA, penalize everyone and sort it out in court.