There is an old builimg in downtown Cartersville at the corner or Main and Erwin Street that is being renovated. the people are spending more on a renovation than it would cost to build a new one but it's their money. I was stopped at a traffic light next to it and noticed the old rickety scaffolding, walk boards laying loose and not secure, no toe boards or hand rails as well as no workers being tied off.?ÿ
It was frankly a accident waiting to happen so I thought maybe I should call OSHA.?ÿ
I have generally always been a "mind my own business" kind of guy but wonder what you fellas think.?ÿ
1. OSHA may not get involved if it is a very s.all outfit doing the work.
2. Don't they deserve a friendly bit of advice before calling the cops and possibly costing them a fortune in fines?
I'd call the police, the President, the Governor, City Hall, the Department of Public works, local Farmers, the Fire department, The Pope, Rothschild's Sucking Service (septic tanks) and Vladimir Putin, and see if that helps.
If nothing else you'll at least get to meet Homeland Security and the FBI.
Personally I would MYOB.?ÿ ??ÿ
We have a lot of small operators that work that way. They also on occasion hire workers with less than legit work authorization.
About twice a month one of such workers will roll into the hospital after a fall. The contractor claims they don't know the poor soul and the community picks up the tab. The worker ends up back in their hometown, crippled and uncompensated.
Now I realize this is dangerously close to the P & R 3rd rail. It was only pointed out to show that sometimes the bad acts of others are my business...
Remember that every contractor who doesn't take the time, money and effort to comply with the law is undercutting the responsible contractors who do.?ÿ If I observed a low-ball surveyor egregiously violating legal requirements, I'd be inclined to report him to my licensing board.?ÿ This would seem to be an analogous situation, with the added urgency of threat to life and limb.
Remember that every contractor who doesn't take the time, money and effort to comply with the law is undercutting the responsible contractors who do.?ÿ If I observed a low-ball surveyor egregiously violating legal requirements, I'd be inclined to report him to my licensing board.?ÿ This would seem to be an analogous situation, with the added urgency of threat to life and limb.
A good "small town" approach around here is either a letter-to-the-editor in the local weekly newsrag, or the 21st. century equivalent....a post on the council person's FB account (with a photo).?ÿ You may not ever really see any results but it can get a number of people informed and/or fired up about something that isn't quite copasetic.
I was managing a group of people who barely spoke English, and as luck would have it, Yo Hablo Espanol asi asi.
Awesome work ethic and enjoyed the exchange of culture and stories of life etc.?ÿ My Supervisor introduced a Confined Space into the work flow, and?ÿ I said flatly, "we won't be going into that until we all get properly trained, and the permits and procedures are also in Spanish, and everyone understands completely the risks, and that's that".
They hemmed and hawed and threatened my job indirectly and directly. So I called OSHA.?ÿ They interviewed me, I sent photos.?ÿ OSHA sent a letter to the employer explaining the complaint, and that they would even provide a free consultation in support of the process , but would not be sending anyone out due to no deaths or injuries occurring yet.?ÿ ?ÿ The end result was I left the company, because it was only the tip of the iceberg with the problems they continued to try and hide. Like broken elevators, no inspection records, etc etc etc.?ÿ I popped smoke and moved on.
OSHA isn't the bad guy, its the people who don't care about the safety of their workers, and in some cases the general public too that are the problem. If you see an obviously unsafe situation, avoid it, but don't just walk away and forget about it.?ÿ Someones life might be depending on your power of observation.?ÿ And that's the biggest part of what we do in this field. Observe. ( steps of his rickety soap box....)
"You may not ever really see any results but it can get a number of people informed and/or fired up about something that isn't quite copasetic."
Especially the Lawyers for the contractor who will sue you for slanderous statements, which is up to the defendant to prove. Personally I MYOB on issues such as this.
The first thing would be to make a phone call or send an email to the contractor and/or the owner. If they smarten up, problem solved.?ÿ If not, you have a clear conscience when you escalate.?ÿ?ÿ
Interesting observation and comments. I drive down the street and see all sorts of things that make me pause and think. Why do they do this, and why do they do that. In this case, I'd file it and move on as I am not a contractor, lawyer or insurance agent. And unless I am completely aware of all the nuances of what I am seeing I would be meddling in someones business. Now if I were invited onto the site to provide professional services that would be another thing. I dislike it when people tell me how to survey or carry on my business.?ÿ
I tend to be a more of, how other people run there business is there business.?ÿ Now if I was working on the site and knew the contractor I might mention something to them and let them know my concerns.?ÿ But I wouldn't call if its something I just see in passing and don't have all of the information.?ÿ I wouldn't want someone blowing me in if someone was driving by and saw I wasn't wearing safety glasses while driving a nail or rebar, doesn't look like I called dig safely before diggin a hole, or they thought I was unsafely wielding a machete cutting brush.
I would imagine OSHA would have a field day with the different types of activities a surveyor performs and what type of safety equipment they think we should be using or the safety training we should get.
The line for me is "Are they putting?ÿothers at risk?"?ÿ?ÿIf they're putting other people, not related to the project, at risk I'll elevate it.
If I see a Supervisor at a work site tell a young guy to "just do it, it's fine." I'll have a chat to the young guy about why it's not fine and how he should care about making it home safe and whole. If that young guy then chooses to ignore me, but isn't putting anyone other than himself at risk, I'll happily leave it be.?ÿ?ÿ
We had a recent one here at work where 1 guy (of 11) thought it was unsafe to work on a particular road. I (personally) didn't think it was unsafe. it's a ~50 mi speed limit, but not a busy road and very long sight lines (no blind corners.) We needed to get the crown, I was happy to do it. He wasn't. I wasn't going to force him to do it, or even encourage him to do it. He had a big stink to the bosses about?ÿme doing it. As I (recorded) a site safety assessment I was fine.?ÿ ?ÿ
I think there's definitely a line between "Just get it done" and "Do it safely" sometimes it's pretty clear (like Confined Space training mentioned above) and other times it's a bit more grey. I think the responsibility is on the company to provide access to training and equipment (sometimes even above what the State sets out) but ultimate responsibility comes down to the person putting themself at risk.
You must be careful before calling in the building polize.
Find out who the contractor is and who he is connected to.
Most of the time they are the brother in law or next of kin to the city council, mayor and police chief or connected to someone in your child's school, family church or the local den of thugs across the tracks.
Somehow several decades ago our town was picked to be the place Sam Waldon's excomuncated stepson was placed to run one of his stores, woopee for us.
0.02
I was going to suggest that you consider how you would feel if you observed a dangerous condition but ignored it only to find someone was killed or disabled but that condition....but then I decided MYOB was the best policy.
