Cost cutting measures / safety

[ktech]

I guess this type of thing is what we are up against these days: Came across an installation going in today by Solar Warmth (Doncaster) www.solar-warmth.com . 40 degree pitch roof on a house. Had a small lower flat roof and the guys are just working off ladders and balancing on the rails. No scaffold or other protection. Roof wasn't covered in snow but I bet a bit slippy.

I can't understand how these types of companies get away with it. It would be good if customer where a bit more educated and they might realise they could be liable if something went wrong any they allowed the work to take place (as well as the contractor).

 

[bigbaddave]

I fail to see how the customer could be liable in the event of an accident.. But hey ho were theres a blame there is a claim

 

[ktech]

Not 100% how it works for domestic but as the link below shows (roofing accident) the client and the contractor both got prosecuted.
B18 Tragic Death
Quite possibly domestic work may be treated differently.

 

[bigbaddave]

Thats a bit harsh for the customer, I mean leave the keys with them in the morning and come back get keys back with a legal case to follow. Bit like when a burglar brakes into a house and gets mouled by there dog

 

[Guest111]

Thats a bit harsh for the customer, I mean leave the keys with them in the morning and come back get keys back with a legal case to follow. Bit like when a burglar brakes into a house and gets mouled by there dog

one of my dogs,a german shepherd used to run around with a steak knife sticking out of its mouth,try explaining to the police that while you were out your dog stabbed a burglar lol

 

[redmile-energy]

You don't have to fall off the roof to be fined, the Health and Safety Executive take a very dim view of people working at height without the correct precautions e.g scaffolding and I know from their website they have prosecuted people in the past. It all seems pretty mindless to me but if someone wants to risk life and limb to save themselves £400 worth of scaffolding thats up to them.

 

[SolarCity]

You don't have to fall off the roof to be fined, the Health and Safety Executive take a very dim view of people working at height without the correct precautions e.g scaffolding and I know from their website they have prosecuted people in the past. It all seems pretty mindless to me but if someone wants to risk life and limb to save themselves £400 worth of scaffolding thats up to them.

The problem is that if people do forgo the use of scaffold then the rest of us will struggle to compete with them - and when they inevitably fall and kill themselves we all have to go on refresher courses and spend £30 so we can get a new CS-blah-blah-blah card.

If it wasn't for these idiots we'd have colonised Mars by now.

 

[Guest111]

There was a local builder last year working on a roof of a house,Incomplete scaffolding,no hard hat, no safety glasses and wearing trainers,A man from the HSE was passing and stopped to watch.The builder was cutting some tiles for the roof with a stihl saw,perched precariously by the chimney stack,when he had finished cutting the man called him down and handed him a piece of paper,it was an order to stop work until the scaffolding had been done correctly.The fines totalled more than he made on the job,apparently the HSE are always looking for small companies breaching regs,and with them now charging £120 per hour the numbers are going up, workers beware.

 

[grantr37]

Thats a bit harsh for the customer, I mean leave the keys with them in the morning and come back get keys back with a legal case to follow. Bit like when a burglar brakes into a house and gets mouled by there dog

or falls down the stairs then sues you......but if you walk in on them and they cut you then apparently that's ok...

 

[grantr37]

There was a local builder last year working on a roof of a house,Incomplete scaffolding,no hard hat, no safety glasses and wearing trainers,A man from the HSE was passing and stopped to watch.The builder was cutting some tiles for the roof with a stihl saw,perched precariously by the chimney stack,when he had finished cutting the man called him down and handed him a piece of paper,it was an order to stop work until the scaffolding had been done correctly.The fines totalled more than he made on the job,apparently the HSE are always looking for small companies breaching regs,and with them now charging £120 per hour the numbers are going up, workers beware.

is that £120.00 per hour for you to call in an HSE inspector to have a look and advise....or is that what the scaffolders are charging per worker per hour to put up and take down a scaffold ?

 

[Guest111]

is that £120.00 per hour for you to call in an HSE inspector to have a look and advise....or is that what the scaffolders are charging per worker per hour to put up and take down a scaffold ?

Due to costs incurred in policing HSE issues the HSE are now charging £120 per hour if they become involved in an issue with you or your company,this is chargeable from leaving their office to getting back.So if they have to come to your site and it,s 2 hours from their office to yours you will incur a 4 hour charge( travel time there and back) plus time spent on site.the monies raised will be put back into the HSE enabling them to employ more staff and therefore carry out more inspections.This was told to my be an inspector from the HSE during an incident on a friends site last november.

 

[TedM]

It's £124 per hour but is not charged in all cases. See HSE: Fee for Intervention - What is FFI? for details.

 

[moggy1968]

Got a phone call a few weeks back from a guy we did some jobs for a year or so ago. He has just discovered (???) that on a job one of his other contractors did (free system) none of the panels were connected together. Asked if we could go back and connect them up. I told it would be quite pricey as we would need to put scaffold up so we could get the panels off to make off the connections and secure the cables. He seemed quite put out that we wouldn't just climb a ladder (on a 2 storey building) to do it! I never got a call back so I guess someone must have agreed to go and do it up a ladder.

Some jobs you can do without!

 

[SRE]

I fail to see how the customer could be liable in the event of an accident.. But hey ho were theres a blame there is a claim

We did some work for a H&S consultant who was very clear that if there was a fall she was equally liable. We got the job because we always use scaffold and several of their neighbours used a Scottish form who never used scaffold and carried the panels on their back up 2.5 stories on ladders.

 

[Elmer BeFuddled]

We did some work for a H&S consultant who was very clear that if there was a fall she was equally liable. We got the job because we always use scaffold and several of their neighbours used a Scottish form who never used scaffold and carried the panels on their back up 2.5 stories on ladders.

As above.

I thought that if the customer was hiring contractors to do work then they basically became the site manager with said responsibilities etc. etc..