sundance-communications.com/forum Forums General General Telephone & Systems Information Hazard Assessment Form

HI I have been doing some work for oil companys and they are asking for hazard assessment forms. Has anyone run into the same issue? Any that I have found on line are so over kill, I am looking for a simple form. Thanks for the help

OSHA https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/osha-ppe-hazard-assessment-certification-42951/

Rcaman

I was asked to complete one for a customer of mine whose landlord required them. It read as if i was the expert on their site hazards and i felt that i was not qualified to make the determinations as to what was a hazard.

I told them i needed to add a couple hundred dollars to my quote to cover the cost of my lawyer reviewing it ..... they ended up using someone else.

In my mind it wasn't worth risking everything for a $500 move.

It is becoming a liability nightmare for anyone doing even the smallest work in these buildings. The insurance companies are out of control. This is how ridiculous it has become:

If you are working in a building, let us say running a cable for a new station, and you notice that all the other wiring is non plenum wiring, you MUST make a hazard and risk assessment, hand it to the person for whom you are doing the work AND the building owner and then explain to them the risk and hazards.

Who has time for this? In Pittsburgh, try and find a "building owner." This has all come about because of liability issues arising from accidents and fires that are being traced back to faulty or poor wiring. This used to be a situation that electricians had to deal with, now it has spread to ANYONE installing cable or making changes to the wiring plant in a building.

I was talking to a HVAC contractor, recently, who was taken to court by an insurance company because he moved a low voltage thermostat cable, using the exact same wire that was in the building for 40 years, to another wall. A fire started in the wall due to a faulty electrical outlet. There was serious complications from the poisonous smoke released from telephone, cable TV and other, non plenum wiring located in the wall. No one else was sited. Because he was the last contractor working in that building and he did not inform the building owner of the lack of plenum wiring, the insurance company was suing him. Fortunately, the judge had, at least, one functioning brain cell and threw the case out. But, soon, I fear, this will become the normal and everyone that does work in a building will be a target of these rotten insurance companies.

Rcaman

That seems to be different than the OSHA form above. Do you have anything that says where this is required? Seems to me the only one qualified to determine this would be the electrical inspector or fire marshal. I can just see some IT "professional" running cable having to make that kind of assessment.

-Hal

I did some work a few months ago for CNRL they were renovating one of their buildings. I was able to use their forms. I just finished wiring some constructions trailers for Husky. I was able to skirt the issue. I have some sample forms and going to over haul those. Thanks

Doesn't it make sense that the building owners should be the ones to fill out these forms .... it is their property not ours.

For example on the one i was asked to complete there was a section on chemicals ..... i don't know anything on that subject but it was part of the assessment.

I wouldn't sign it without my lawyer looking at it and they wouldn't pay so i walked.

Hazardous Assessment forms are filled out when the customer, building owner, or owner's representative perform a Walkthru of the job sight with you the vender. Both of you, together, identify any hazards or potenial hazards and determine how and by whom they will be handled.

John is correct. You also must be aware of your local codes, rules and laws pertaining to the site. For instance, in the city of Pittsburgh, I catalog and report ANY wiring issues I encounter in the course of doing a job because the city requires a hazard assessment form for every job that requires ceiling, floor or wall penetration. In the suburbs, however, this is not required. Again, this is Insurance companies driving this trying to get out of paying a claim.

If you have not encountered this, be prepared, you will. When you lift a ceiling tile and see a rats nest of old LAN and telephone wiring, all PVC and all not properly supported, and you are the "last" person to do work, the insurance companies are going to go after you for not making the building owner and any other "responsible" entity, as prescribed by local codes, aware of the hazard if there is a claim due to fire, smoke or ANY condition deemed hazardous. You may thank our spineless government and an illegally protected insurance industry for this idiocy. Just remember this simple formula when it comes to government: P+M=C. Power+money=corruption.

Rcaman

So, the customer, building owner, or owner's representative perform a walkthrough of the job site with you the vender. Both of you, together, identify any hazards or potenial hazards and determine how and by whom they will be handled? WHAT THE HELL QUALIFIES THEM TO DETERMINE AND IDENTIFY ANY HAZARDS??? And the insurance company is going to hold you responsible if you miss something? That put's you in the place of the AHJ or fire marshal and those guys have errors and omissions insurance and in some cases are immune from liability if they make a bad judgement, not to mention years of training.

So if I ever encountered this I would open everything up BEFORE I TOUCHED ANYTHING then get the AHJ or fire marshal to assess the situation and fill the form out and sign it. You would have to be an idiot to put your name on it!

Better yet run, don't walk, away from any job that puts you at that kind of risk.

-Hal