Risk Management

This column uses fictitious case histories to introduce important loss-control principles. The details for these case histories are not meant to represent any particular occurrence. Any similarities to living people or actual events are purely coincidental.

The spring roofing season was slow at Blue Jay Roofing because winter had been unusually warm allowing the company to work steadily through it. As a result, the company had little backlog heading into spring and faced fierce competition from other roofing companies.

Blue Jay Roofing finally won a large reroofing job at a local shopping mall. It was a tear-off project, and Bill, a Blue Jay Roofing foreman, knew it would occupy him and his crew until summer. John, Blue Jay Roofing's owner, and Larry, a superintendent, also were pleased about the job.

A few days before the project was to begin, John, Larry and Bill met to review the project and discuss strategy. John told his employees this would be a high-profile job and the company's first with the mall owner. John knew the owner had more roofing projects planned, and he wanted to be in a position to negotiate for them.

John had prepared a detailed list of instructions for Bill. They discussed job setup, kettle placement, equipment needs, material delivery schedules and safety requirements. John told Larry the project would need 10 crew members and he would have to hire three new workers. Larry said he had several completed applications and finding new employees would be easy. John reminded Larry he would be responsible for giving the new employees safety training.

That afternoon, Larry hired three employees. He told them to come into Blue Jay Roofing's office the following day—Friday at 10:30 a.m.—for safety training. After successfully completing the training, they would begin work Monday morning at the mall project.

When Larry woke up Friday, it was raining. On his way into work, his cellular telephone rang; Larry was told a tie-in had failed at a hospital project and water was pouring into the emergency room. Larry stocked his truck with Visqueen, pumps, brooms and other emergency supplies and went to the hospital.

After he arrived, Larry quickly determined the leak would take all day to repair. Larry called the three new employees and told them he would be unable to give them their safety training. He asked them to be at the mall job site at 7 a.m. on Monday. He told them he would give them their training later that week.

On Monday morning, Bill arrived at the mall project at 6:30 to make sure the job was set up. Soon, two Blue Jay Roofing trucks and one truck-mounted crane arrived with equipment, materials and a kettle. Bill told his crew where to set the kettle and stage the crane.

Just before 7 a.m., the three new workers showed up, found Bill and asked him where they should start. Bill told one worker, Dan, to get his hard hat and help with crane operations. Dan told Bill he didn't have a hard hat. Bill said he should have received one during the safety training, as well as safety glasses and a copy of the company safety policy.

Dan explained that Larry had been unable to give the safety training on Friday but told him and the other new workers to show up at the job site. Bill noticed another new worker, Phil, was wearing tennis shoes, which the company did not allow for tear-off projects.

Bill was not happy with the situation but knew Larry was busy. Bill decided—against his better judgment—to let the new workers stay. He gave them some easy tasks and planned to call Larry during lunch to arrange for the training.

Around 8:30 a.m., Dan was working near the tear-off activity and got debris in his eyes. Another worker got the eyewash from the first-aid kit and tried to flush out the debris. But a piece was embedded, and Dan needed to go to an urgent-care center.

As Bill helped Dan down the ladder, he heard Phil scream because he had dropped a roll of roofing material on his right foot crushing his big toe. Phil also needed to go to the center.

Bill called Larry and John and told them what had happened. Bill knew the accidents were not serious but easily could have been prevented had Larry performed proper hiring procedures and the safety training.

Larry learned firsthand about the necessity of conducting safety training before workers begin their first projects. He assured John he never again would let a new employee start work before receiving safety training.

Bill Steinmetz is NRCA's risk-management consultant.