General Industry Contractors
I had a tree trimming service come do some trimming. I saw a worker with a pole saw on the second rung from the top of the ladder cutting a limb. I have 2 questions:
1. Is that okay. It looked rough. It did not look like the limb once cut would swing and hit him but I don't feel like cutting on a ladder would be okay.
2. What is my liability as the company bringing in the company to work? If that worker get hurt or worse what is my liability from an OSHA and civil perspective?
Comments (3)
As the customer I would say you are well within your rights to say something. A friend of mine was a mechanical engineering manager for a company. He noticed one of their contractors working unsafe and actually told them to leave.
Note: If someone could prove negligence on your part there is always the chance of civil liability! If you knew someone on your premise was working unsafe that could be negligence.
You are probably safe from direct OSHA problems, but remember if someone is hurt and it is serious enough their employer will have to report the injury to OSHA. If OSHA wants to see the accident scene guess whom they are going to visit?
When I was a site manager I NEVER hesitated to ask any visitor or contractor to leave if they were working unsafe or against our policies! Do you want OSHA to come for a visit?
The day before I retired I found two outside contractors installing a machine with nothing locked out! I told them to leave and documented my talk with our engineer who was suppose to be overseeing their work! Also called the contracting company and warned them their work permit (part of our Contractor Management Policy) would be revoked if it happened again!
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