The Multi-Employer Worksite
& Electrical Contractors
June 15th, 2011
Chris Perry
Shermco Industries
Topics for Today
• Electrical Worker Statistics
• OSHA & The Multi-Employer Worksite Program
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“The Program”
Regulatory Responsibilities
Legal Responsibilities
Reality
• Qualifying Your Electrical Contractors
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Electrical Injury Statistics
Annual Electrical Injury Facts
• Average of 4,000 non-disabling electrical contact
injuries annually in the United States
Annual Electrical Injury Facts
• Average of 3,600 disabling electrical contact injuries
annually in the United States
Annual Electrical Injury Facts
– Annually - Approximately 400 electrical fatalities
Annual Electrical Injury Facts
• Over 2,000 workers are sent to burn centers each year
with electrically-related burn injuries
What Does OSHA Think?
• The OSHA MultiEmployer Citation Policy
states that “both
construction and nonconstruction citations shall
be issued to employers
whose employees are
exposed to hazards”.
What Is Reality?
• As an owner or
controlling employer,
you can be held
financially liable for
injuries to third
parties.
Contractor Liabilities
As a worksite owner you can be cited and fined
for your electrical contractors violations in
multiple roles:
Controlling Employer
Creating Employer
Exposing Employer
Correcting Employer
Contractor Liabilities
As a worksite owner you can be cited and fined
for your electrical contractors violations in
multiple roles:
Controlling Employer
Any employer that has sufficient “control” over a multi-employer
workplace to cause hazardous conditions to be abated may be
cited for failing to do so if that employer had knowledge of the
hazard and there is a reasonable likelihood that employees over
whose work practices it exercised direct control, or had the right
to exercise direct control, could have been exposed to the
hazardous conditions.
Contractor Liabilities
As a worksite owner you can be cited and fined
for your electrical contractors violations in
multiple roles:
Creating Employer
Any employer in a multi-employer worksite that causes a
hazardous condition to be created may be cited if it has
knowledge of the hazard and there is a reasonable likelihood that
employees, over whose work practices it has direct control, or the
right to exercise direct control, could have been exposed to the
hazardous condition.
Contractor Liabilities
As a worksite owner you can be cited and fined
for your electrical contractors violations in
multiple roles:
Exposing Employer
Any employer in a multi-employer workplace may be cited if it
exposes employees over whose work practices it has direct
control, or the right to exercise direct control, to hazards of which
it has knowledge.
Contractor Liabilities
As a worksite owner you can be cited and fined
for your electrical contractors violations in
multiple roles:
Correcting Employer
Is responsible for correcting any violations or hazardous
conditions at the worksite. The correcting employer must
exercise reasonable care in preventing and discovering violations
and meet its obligations of correcting the hazard.
Penalties
• Penalties are
appropriately calculated,
using the exposed
employees of all
employers as the
number of employees
for probability
assessment.
Penalties
• Lawyers are next in line to collect. Legal
implications can be disastrous for a small
business and extremely taxing on large
employers.
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Legal defense fees
Court costs
Medical bills
Lost wages
Not to mention bad PR
Reasonable Care
• Once your contractors are on
site, you have to continue to
inspect the worksite, ask
questions, look for hazards,
communicate & mitigate any
hazards found
• There must be some
“Reasonable Care” evident
Reasonable Care
• “Reasonable Care” is the
legal obligation imposed
on an employer requiring
that they adhere to a
standard of reasonable
care to foresee hazards
that could potentially
harm others
Reasonable Care
• Factors that affect how frequently and closely a
controlling employer must inspect to meet its
standard of reasonable care include:
– How much the controlling employer knows both
about the safety history and safety practices of the
employer it controls and about that employer's level
of expertise.
– How much he enforces the other employer's
compliance with safety and health requirements
Reasonable Care
• Factors that affect how frequently and closely a
controlling employer must inspect to meet its
standard of reasonable care include:
– How much he enforces the other employer's
compliance with safety and health requirements
with an effective, graduated system of enforcement
and follow-up inspections
Reasonable Care
• In short you have to
keep an eye on the site
and on each and every
contractor
• Note changes with each
contractors “Turnover”
in their workforce
OSHA & Electrical Safety
• OSHA requires that qualified electrical workers
be trained in:
– Skills and techniques to determine energized parts
from others
– Skills and techniques to determine nominal
voltage
– How to determine minimum safe approach
distances for shock
– Use of special precautionary techniques, use of
PPE, use of blankets and shielding, and use
insulated hand tools
OSHA & The Electrical Worksite
• Electrical Workers must be
“Qualified”
– 29CFR1910.269 “One
knowledgeable in the
construction and operation
of the electric power
generation, transmission and
distribution equipment
involved, along with the
associated hazards”.
OSHA & The Electrical Worksite
• 29CFR1910.269(c)
“The employer shall
ensure that the
employee in charge
conducts a job briefing
with the employees
involved before they
start each job”.
OSHA & The Electrical Worksite
• 29CFR1910.269(c)(1)
“Additional briefings
shall be held if
significant changes,
which might affect the
safety of the employees,
occur during the course
of the work”.
Electrical Contractors
Know The Qualifications Of Your
Contractor!
The Contractor & Owner Relationship
• Electrical contractors are usually recognized by the
owner as “knowledgeable” and usually give the
owner the impression that “they know what they
are doing”
• Owners have a tendency to trust them completely
based off of the contractors tenure on site,
manpower, capabilities and long time personal
relationships
The Contractor & Owner Relationship
• Owners feel that the contractors are “experienced”,
but seldom question the qualifications of the
foreman or other employees of the contracting
company.
• If safety challenges do arise, owners are resistive
to change while midcourse of a project due to
costs, lost time, or contractual barriers
The Contractor & Owner Relationship
• As an owner you should:
– Obtain a copy of the health & safety information of
the contracting company
– Ask Questions of all the electrical workers about
electrical hazard identification & mitigation
– Be involved in the contractors Hazard Risk Analysis/
Job Safety Analysis process
– Inspect the contractors tools and equipment for
calibration, serviceability and “prior use”
The Contractor & Owner Relationship
• As an owner you should:
– Training documentation
– Always note the following:
• Dates of training, should be annual at
a minimum
• Length of the training program
• Instructing company or individual,
make sure he has a reasonable
history of instruction
• Course curriculum, needs to be some
hands on and proof of proficiency
The Contractor & Owner Relationship
• As an owner you should:
– Electrical Safety Program
– Get a copy of their program!
– Inspect for policy & procedures
for:
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LOTO
Project pre-planning
Safe work practices
Hazard identification
Switching of equipment
Energized work
Always Stay Grounded
Summary
• Protection of electrical workers is paramount,
especially with the declining workforce
• New electrical workers moving into the workforce lack
many of the basic skills need to work safely
• Know your contractor, develop a lasting relationship &
don’t let money come between you
• OSHA’s world is changing politically, this could have
disastrous consequences
• With that said, the burden is on the owner even more to
qualify who comes into the worksite
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Questions?
Chris Perry
Shermco Industries
www.shermco.com
Phone: 888-SHERMCO