50 Shades of Grey in Home Renovation & Custom Home Building Safety

Safety is like two sides of a coin.

Side one is what the laws prescribe you to do on job sites to protect workers and the public.

Side two is called reality.

It seems that reality is the guiding force in many home renovation and custom home building job sites, especially when the constructor (general contractor) hires sub trades who believe that safety laws are nonsense because they’ve done the job for years without accidents. You need these trades, but they’re ready to walk, so now what do you do?

What is a “constructor”? Under Ontario’s Occupational Health and Safety Act and WHIMS Regulation, a constructor is:

“a person who undertakes a project for an owner and includes an owner who undertakes all or part of a project by himself or by more than one employer.”

The constructor is the party with the greatest degree of control over health and safety on the entire project and is under law, ultimately responsible for the health and safety of all workers on the site. Despite the thought that sub-trades should take control and be more responsible for their own safety, this is what the law states and can be used against you if an incident occurs.

So, based on these laws, the constructor must ensure that all the employees and workers on the project comply with the Act and its regulations.

But this is not what happens in reality!!!

But back to your sub-trades not wanting to comply with your job-site safety standards… They’re about to walk off the job you’re already behind schedule on, so what do you do? The answer? Unfortunately this is where the shades of grey come in because there is no easy answer to the question on safety. The playing field is not level and while some show their due diligence and apply safety on site (with all of the added costs), others don’t bother and seem to get away with it.

One Scarborough, Ontario contractor, Kelvin Chong Roofing, recently got hit with a $15,000 fine for his workers not wearing fall protection systems on a roof. Then there was the 25 per cent victim surcharge and, as a parting gift, his company was awarded with a great reputation online.

For example, when Googling Kelvin Chong Roofing, the company’s fines show up in 6th place, two places below his HomeStars listing. Getting hauled into court can do harm to a businesses reputation and all because of lack of safety.

Hitting people in their wallet can work as a deterrent, but only if it really hurts. It’s like driving past a bad vehicle accident: we take note of it, drive slowly for the next 5 km, then down goes the foot to the metal again and we forget all about it.

Despite the varying shades of grey in the reality of construction safety, the Ministry of Labour does not see it this way and will prosecute all those found in non-compliance to the law, and even more heavily after a serious accident.

Just because you’ve been getting away with it for years, with no fines or accidents, doesn’t mean it won’t catch up to you in the end, but ultimately it is up to you to make the decision: what is safety worth to you?

Again, CARAHS is here to answer any questions or concerns that you might have. If in doubt, give us a shout, Toll free 1.866.366.2030