 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Employee Leasing Services in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
Division of Occupational Safety and Health of Industrial Commission of v. Chuck Westenburg Concrete Contractors Inc.12/24/1998
is defined as "one who is capable of identifying existing and predictable hazards in the surroundings, or working conditions which are unsanitary, hazardous, or dangerous to employees, and who has authorization to take prompt corrective measures to eliminate them." 29 C.F.R. § 1926.650(b).
Every Arizona employer is responsible for providing his employees with a safe place of employment. See A.R.S. § 23-403(A). In that regard, Arizona has adopted the federal OSHA construction standards and requires all employers in the construction industry to comply with the federal regulations in part 1926 related to occupational safety and health. See A.R.S. § 23-403(B); A.A.C. R20-5-601. Therefore, Westenburg Contractors was required to have a competent person on site at the TMC parking garage project.
Westenburg Contractors responds that it was not required to have a competent person on site based on the multi-employer work site defense. It argues that Roof was the general contractor in charge of the safety of the entire job site, through its project superintendent, Roman. It argues that Roman was the competent person with the authority to abate any hazards, and, as a sub- contractor under Roof, Westenburg Contractors did not have that authority.
This court discussed the multi-employer work site doc- trine in APS v. Industrial Comm'n, 178 Ariz. 341, 873 P.2d 679 (App. 1994). In APS, this court relied on the two central OSHA cases in this area: Anning-Johnson Co., 4 OSHC 1193 (Rev. Comm'n 1976) and Grossman Steel & Aluminum Corp., 4 OSHC 1185 (Rev. Comm'n 1975). APS, 178 Ariz. at 344, 873 P.2d at 682. The court noted that these cases held
" hat each employer at a construction site is respon- sible for assuming that its conduct does not create hazards to any employees at the site; and, because of the supervisory nature of a general contractor and its ability to obtain abatement of hazards, the general contractor is responsible for violations it reasonably could have been expected to prevent or abate by reason of its position. . . . Both cases went on to say that each employer is expected "'to make a reasonable effort to detect violations of standards not created by it but to which its employees have access and, when it detects such violations, to exert reasonable efforts to have them abated or take such other steps as the circumstances may dictate to protect its employees.'" . . . Thus, the general rule we are left with is that an employer commits a violation when it fails to comply with a safety or health standard and its own employees or those of another are exposed to the resulting hazard." Id. (citations omitted) (emphasis added).
Westenburg Contractors argues that because any competent person it appointed would not have had the authority to abate a cave-in hazard to its employees by taking corrective measures with regard to the soil protection system, it was not required to have a competent person and was entitled to rely on Roman since he had that authority. We disagree. A subcontractor on a multi-employer work site is responsible for the safety of its own employees and must take all reasonable and realistic steps to protect them, as an alternative to literal compliance with an applicable safety regulation, which may be the responsibility of the general con- tractor. See Electric Smith, Inc. v. Secretary of Labor, 666 F.2d 1267, 1270 (9th Cir. 1982).
In Electric Smith, a general contractor and all three of its subcontractors received identical citations for violations of OSHA regulations related to the guarding of open-sided floors, platforms, runways, and wall openings during the construction of a three-story office building. See id. a
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Arizona Employee Leasing Services
Employee Leasing Services
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Employee Leasing Services in your area.
|
|