Proper industrial housekeeping on all commercial or residential construction sites here in Indiana or Illinois is essential in keeping workers safe from injuries while on the job. Construction site housekeeping involves much more than a quick sweep of the broom.
From an industrial standpoint, as explained by Safeopedia, industrial housekeeping is “… an ongoing safety practice, orderly conditions in the workplace should be maintained on a consistent basis, not restored after orderliness has been allowed to slip. Housekeeping operations in the workplace are considered to be a fundamental tenet of occupational safety and are a mandatory workplace safety activity in most jurisdictions.”
For more, read our earlier discussion in Workplace Housekeeping and Serious Accidents on the Job: Duty of Care.
Injuries or Death From Construction Housekeeping Failures
The construction industry is notoriously dangerous. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) explains:
Construction is a high hazard industry that comprises a wide range of activities involving construction, alteration, and/or repair. Construction workers engage in many activities that may expose them to serious hazards, such as falling from rooftops, unguarded machinery, being struck by heavy construction equipment, electrocutions, silica dust, and asbestos.
The failure to do proper housekeeping on a construction site, no matter the size of the project, can cause serious injury or death to one or more construction workers on the job. Construction housekeeping failures can cause:
- Fall injuries (spinal cord injuries; traumatic brain injuries);
- Burns from chemical exposure, explosions, or fires;
- Electrocution from contact with live wires or current;
- Internal injuries or debilitating or fatal illness due to exposure to dangerous materials such as silica or asbestos; or
- Loss of use of limb or amputation from failures in belts, guards, and other machinery or equipment on site.
Federal Safety Regulations for Construction Site Housekeeping
Accordingly, OSHA has adopted specific federal safety regulations that require construction employers to perform housekeeping tasks on the worksite to protect employees from harm. Additional safety regulations create even more legal duties for the construction industry for proper and detailed housekeeping on the construction site.
OSHA Construction Housekeeping Regulations: 29 CFR §1926.25, 1926.252
The construction industry’s specific safety and health regulations for housekeeping on the worksite are found in 29 CFR §1926.25, which provides:
During the course of construction, alteration, or repairs, form and scrap lumber with protruding nails, and all other debris, shall be kept cleared from work areas, passageways, and stairs, in and around buildings or other structures (29 CFR §1926.25(a));
Combustible scrap and debris shall be removed at regular intervals during the course of construction. Safe means shall be provided to facilitate such removal (29 CFR §1926.25(b));
Containers shall be provided for the collection and separation of waste, trash, oily and used rags, and other refuse. Containers used for garbage and other oily, flammable, or hazardous wastes, such as caustics, acids, harmful dusts, etc. shall be equipped with covers. Garbage and other waste shall be disposed of at frequent and regular intervals (29 CFR §1926.25(c));
Whenever materials are dropped more than 20 feet to any point lying outside the exterior walls of the building, an enclosed chute of wood, or equivalent material, shall be used. For the purpose of this paragraph, an enclosed chute is a slide, closed in on all sides, through which material is moved from a high place to a lower one (29 CFR §1926.252(a));
When debris is dropped through holes in the floor without the use of chutes, the area onto which the material is dropped shall be completely enclosed with barricades not less than 42 inches high and not less than 6 feet back from the projected edge of the opening above. Signs warning of the hazard of falling materials shall be posted at each level. Removal shall not be permitted in this lower area until debris handling ceases above (29 CFR §1926.252(b));
All scrap lumber, waste material, and rubbish shall be removed from the immediate work area as the work progresses (29 CFR §1926.252(c));
Disposal of waste material or debris by burning shall comply with local fire regulations (29 CFR §1926.252(d)); and
All solvent waste, oily rags, and flammable liquids shall be kept in fire resistant covered containers until removed from worksite (29 CFR §1926.252(e)).
Other Federal Safety Regulations Applicable to Construction Site Housekeeping
There are a great many other federal safety regulations that mandate steps be taken on a construction site to make sure housekeeping tasks are routinely performed in a reasonable and prudent manner. They include those protecting against falls in 29 CFR §1910.22 by placing legal duties on the employer for the working surface conditions:
All places of employment, passageways, storerooms, service rooms, and walking-working surfaces are kept in a clean, orderly, and sanitary condition.
The floor of each workroom is maintained in a clean and, to the extent feasible, in a dry condition. When wet processes are used, drainage must be maintained and, to the extent feasible, dry standing places, such as false floors, platforms, and mats must be provided.
Walking-working surfaces are maintained free of hazards such as sharp or protruding objects, loose boards, corrosion, leaks, spills, snow, and ice.
The employer must ensure that each walking-working surface can support the maximum intended load for that surface.
The employer must provide, and ensure each employee uses, a safe means of access and egress to and from walking-working surfaces.
The employer must ensure: Walking-working surfaces are inspected, regularly and as necessary, and maintained in a safe condition; and hazardous conditions on walking-working surfaces are corrected or repaired before an employee uses the walking-working surface again. If the correction or repair cannot be made immediately, the hazard must be guarded to prevent employees from using the walking-working surface until the hazard is corrected or repaired; and
When any correction or repair involves the structural integrity of the walking-working surface, a qualified person performs or supervises the correction or repair.
Read: Deadly Construction Accidents: Falls Remain a Leading Cause of Death for Construction Workers.
Employers’ Duty of Care and Safety to Keep Construction Site Safe for Workers
When an employer on the construction site fails in their housekeeping duties of safety and care, people can get seriously hurt. Under both state and federal law, the breach of the housekeeping duties can result in legal liability not only to the injured worker victims but to their loved ones, as well.
Even the simple failure to remove nails from lumber can cause serious bodily injury on a construction site. Employers who do not routinely remove debris from the site are inviting falls or struck-by accidents.
Contractors or supervisors who fail to do housekeeping chores like securing material away from trenches or roof edges, or from inspecting the status and location of power cords on the site, are creating site hazards that may cost the life of one or more construction workers on that job.
Moreover, in construction site accidents where housekeeping failures have resulted in a work accident, more than one construction company employer on the site may be liable. For more, read Multiple Employers on the Construction Site: Who Is Liable For Construction Worker Accidents?
Justice for Construction Workers Hurt on the Job in a Poor Housekeeping Accident
The construction industry in Indiana and Illinois is a huge employer, while it remains one of the most dangerous lines of work here. Read, What Is The Most Dangerous Job in Indiana and Illinois?
Our construction workers need to know that good housekeeping practices on their worksite are the responsibility of the employers on that site, and that the company’s failure to comply with established housekeeping safety rules and regulations may cause catastrophic or fatal accidents.
Disregarding or disrespecting simple housekeeping on a commercial or residential construction site has been proven to cause harm to those at work on that job-site. Sweeping a floor may seem simple but dirty floors can mean falls, or a sudden fire started by combustible dust.
Those who are injured or killed in a construction accident shown to be caused by a housekeeping failure may have claims to be filed with the appropriate workers’ compensation laws as well as potential third-party personal injury claims based upon negligence, defective products, or premises liability. Damages may include not only medical expenses but lost wages, lost future earning capacity, and more.
For more:
- The Two Main Differences Between Workers Compensation and Personal Injury Claims for Accident Victims in Indiana and Illinois
- What are Legal Damages After a Work-Related Accident in Indiana or Illinois?
- What Is Killing Our Construction Workers? The New CPWR Report
- Ladders: The Most Dangerous Tool on the Construction Site
- Growing Danger of Severe Construction Worker Trenching Accidents.
The need for exceptional housekeeping on our construction sites cannot be underestimated here in Indiana and Illinois. More than one employer on the site where a housekeeping failure has caused a construction worker’s injuries may be legally responsible for the consequences. Please be careful out there!
