Tag Archives: construction

Construction Lawsuit Facts & Figures (infographic)

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Yesterday, we had a post discussing the negligence lawsuits that can arise out of construction accidents.  Today, an infographic demonstrating some ground-breaking construction lawsuit facts & figures, courtesy of the folks at Datadial.  [One note on the graphic below: as always, laws can be different in different states. Homeowners in North Carolina, for example, cannot sue for building construction issues after the house is 6 years old due to NC’s statute of repose.  Always check the laws in your jurisdiction/End of legalisms!] 

construction safety infographic

 

 

Explaining Negligence in the Construction Industry (Guest post)

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Today, a guest post by Anne Roberts.  Anne Roberts is a freelance writer. She writes blog posts, how-to articles, SEO copies, and many other types of content for several websites. Anne is currently a web content writer for personal injury attorneys.  (But we like her anyway!!)

Explaining Negligence in the Construction Industry

The construction world can be regarded as one of the most dangerous industries to work in. Because of the inherent hazards that come with working on a construction or repair project, both construction professionals and laborers uphold certain standards to ensure a safe working environment.

Contractors, surveyors, engineers, project managers to employers–all have a duty of care to observe. They make sure that assessments of risks involved in any facet of construction are made. Laborers, on the other hand, benefit from the assessments by exercising preventive measures.

Still, accidents happen.

Acrobatic_Construction_Workers

Some of the most common accidents that occur in construction sites involve six-feet-or-more falls from ladders or stairs. Other accidents are caused by the failure to implement safety precautions, such as improper building of scaffolding, use of dangerous tools and unsafe machinery, and other hazardous issues.  Without proper implementation of safety precautions, working on an elevated surface may result to debilitating injuries and even death.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), it has been estimated that fatal accidents involving construction workers accounted for 15 percent of all job-related deaths in the U.S.  Such injuries or deaths may not have happened if a certain construction or repair project employed safety rules or standards of care. Such occurrence is categorized as construction negligence.

Determining Liability 

When a serious accident happens, usually all parties involved are brought into the litigation, as cross-allegations of construction safety issues, construction defects, and construction administration/observation/inspection issues.  In North Carolina, an employee cannot sue his employer for a workplace accident (but instead seek a workers’ compensation recovery).  The employee can, however, bring a negligence action against any/all (other) responsible third parties.  [Editor’s Note: The parties may have rights to recover against each other if one is actively negligent and one is only passively negligent.  Otherwise, joint & several liability applies.]

To establish negligence, the injured party must prove the following four factors:

  1. The construction professionals involved have a duty of care;
  2. They breached or violated that duty of care;
  3. The breach of duty of care resulted to an injury; and
  4. The injury was the result of the construction professionals’ negligence.

[Editor’s Note:  The injured party also must not have been contributorily negligent.]

Other than in a construction or repair project site, construction negligence also happens on highway construction and post-construction efforts. Unsafe conditions during roadwork can be considered negligence, especially if workers, as well as motorists, consequently sustained certain injuries.

Even a complete building can be a source of negligence, in which the contractor or subcontractor failed to adhere to building codes. Construction defects, such as low structural integrity of the building, mechanical and electrical failure, and low-quality finishes, may lead to injuries and deaths.

Melissa again:  Thanks Anne for your post!       Readers:  Watch this space– I’m planning on posting an infographic tomorrow that will show construction accidents & related statistics.  Stay tuned.  In the meantime, please leave any questions or thoughts in the comment section, below.

 Photo of workers on bamboo scaffolding (c) Terrance TS Tam.

 

 

 

Day Laborers & NC’s Lowest Responsible Bidder law (News Note)

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blue jean contractorsTriangle Grading and Paving is a Triad-area company with multiple public contracts, 18 since 2000 from the NC Department of Transportation alone. Frequently the low bidder, Triangle Grading has a long history of performing work for the state. However, a recent high profile controversy has threatened to remove the company from the bid lists for public construction work.  In this past year, the company was fined $400,000 by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The Burlington-based company has the highest fine in North Carolina dating back as far as 2009.  

As you undoubtedly are well aware, North Carolina law requires that any public construction project requiring an estimated total expenditure of greater than $500,000 (or an estimated expenditure on supplies and materials greater than $90,000) be subject to formal bidding procedures. Further, the state or municipality soliciting the bids is required to accept “the lowest responsible bidder.” Some of the factors taken into consideration when determining what a responsible bid is includes performance, quality, and time to completion as specified in the bid.

Knowing that the contract must go to the lowest responsible bidder, contractors may be tempted to cut corners by hiring undocumented workers, who work for less pay than their documented counterparts. By hiring such workers, contractors can lower labor costs significantly, making them much more likely to be the bidder who wins the lucrative project.

Immigration fines may not cause Triangle Grading to lose all potential public clients. The DOT has stated that, when conducting the yearly review of its list of contractors, that while “safety records will be considered […] immigration fines would not be a factor.” However, Winston-Salem is investigating whether these immigration violations should merit a removal from the bid list.

What are your experiences with the requirement of “lowest responsible bidder” on state projects?  Are there changes that need to be made to the program?  Can the system be gamed? Post in the comment section, below.

And, if you have not already signed up for email delivery of these posts, please do so on the right hand side of the blog’s main page.  You’ll not only never miss another post, but you’ll also get a copy of my free white paper on the 7 critical mistakes that engineers and architects make on construction projects.

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New Safety Standards Issued by ASSE and ANSI (News Note)

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The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and the American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE)  have recently announced their approval of two new safety standards to enhance construction site safety.

The two new standards, which are set to take effect during June 2012, are the ANSI/ASSE A10.1-2011 Pre-Project and Pre-Task Safety and Health Planning for Construction and Demolition Operations, and the ANSI/ASSE A10.26-2011 Emergency Procedures for Construction and Demolition Sites.

The new A10.1-2011 standard was designed to assist construction owners, contractors, and designers by ensuring that safety and health planning were standard parts of their pre-construction planning. It is also intended to help owners of construction sites to establish a process for evaluating constructor candidates with regard to their safety and health performance planning.

The A10.26 standard applies to emergency situations, including fires, collapses, and hazardous spills. The standard deals with emergency rescue, evacuation, and transportation of injured workers, and also plans for coordinating with emergency medical facilities ahead of potential disasters.

In addition, the ANSI/ASSE A10.33-2011 standard, Safety and Health Program Requirements for Multi-Employer Projects, received an update, which will become effective May 7, 2012. The standard delivers minimum requirements for programs where multiple employers are engaged in a common undertaking, and is intended to address cost-efficient and coordinated safety on the construction site.

These new standards are part of a larger rollout designed by the A10 Accredited Standards Committee on Safety Requirements for Construction and Demolition operations.

Comments or questions? Drop me a line in the comments section, below.

Source: ABC.org. 

An Upward Trend in Commercial Construction? (News Note)

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Year-end economic indicators demonstrate that private commercial construction may be increasing in 2012, primarily as demand grows for new projects built in the United States.

According to an article in Businessweek, the Architecture Billings Index held at 52 in December, indicating a modest expansion in the market. The American Institute of Architects said that the commercial and industrial component of the number climbed to 54.1 in December, the highest in 10 months.

The monthly survey of U.S.-based architecture firms is one of the main indicators of nonresidential construction, and these numbers suggest that modest improvement may be on the horizon.

The information is confirmed by data from the Census Bureau that shows that spending on lodging, office, commercial and manufacturing buildings grew 8.2 percent in November to $9.2 billion from a year ago. These types of commercial and industrial projects are historically canaries in the mine and are usually the first part of the industry to improve as the economy expands.

Other indicators, including vacancy rates, are also pointing towards recovery. U.S. office vacancies fell in the fourth quarter to 17.3 percent, the lowest since 2009, from 17.4 percent in the prior period and 17.6 percent a year earlier.

The architecture association’s billing index historically has been ahead of improvements in building activity by about nine to 12 months; because this recovery has been so weak, a construction rebound is coming later in the economic cycle, according to leading economists.

What about you– do you think construction is on the upswing?  Are clients still shy to pull the trigger on ambitious projects?  Share your thoughts on what these numbers mean to you in the comments section, below. 

And if you haven’t already, sign up to get your free copy of the white paper, “7 Critical Mistakes that Engineers & Architects Make During Contract Negotiation and Execution that Sabotage their Projects & Invite Litigation”.  You can download your copy by going to the form on the right hand side of the blog.

Photo (c) freefoto.com