How common is it for OSHA to show up on a residential build?

How common is it for OSHA to show up on a residential build?

Investor · Chicago, IL · Member since 2015 · 138 posts · 54 votes

So we're building a One million plus spec house in Arlington Heights and down the street a real good friend of mine is building his own home. I was at my site today looking at the progress when we decided to walk down to my friend's house and see the progress on theirs. We noticed someone talking to the sub contractor who is in charge of framing the house. My friend asked who the guy was as he was on the phone when we approached. He said OSHA. The gentlemen got off the phone and asked who we were? My friend states he's the homeowner. He immediately states he is with OSHA and that he happened to be driving by and noticed violations. He then proceeded to say he needed to walk the project and take more pictures. No hard hats were worn, no safety glasses for all employees, and the people working on the rafters didn't have harnesses nor were tied off. He then asked each employee to come forward and asked them there names. He mentioned earlier he was going to interview each one of them but never did. Here took the email agrees down of the sub and said he or others would be back periodically to make sure no more violations are happening. My friend them asked if her could issue a warning he said no. That is not effective and people won't learn from that in this trade. He did say it would be about 10 days before he would hear back and didn't know if a citation would be issued or not. We stayed respectful with him as initially it was really heated when we walked up. I just found it odd to see OSHA at a new construction site. This is in a subdivision and he claimed no one called it in and he was in his way to another job site. Just wondering with this vast number of people on this site if anyone has ever had this happen to them and is this really common? If so what was the outcome? I heard fines can be costly. Thanks for listening and I'll update more once I hear what happens next.

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Rental Property Investor · Concord, GA · Member since 2015 · 3k+ posts · 3k+ votes
6y

So he needed a ruler to determine if a roof was higher than 6 feet? I haven't seen too many roofs less than that... I think he may have been some nut case.

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  • Rental Property Investor · Concord, GA · Member since 2015 · 3k+ posts · 3k+ votes
    6y

    A home building site is certainly within the purvey of OSHA but they're usually spread pretty thin. That organization can be a pain but the injury rate in other countries that don't have any kind of similar organization is much higher. I kind of view them like building/zoning inspectors. They serve a needed function but it's no fun to be on the "receiving" end of things.

  • Contractor · Warren, OH · Member since 2015 · 147 posts · 55 votes
    6y

    @Rachel Imhof

    It’s more common in commercial construction but OSHA has been really cracking down on residential as well, especially roofers. I would look up what to do when OSHA shows up there are a lot of guidelines out there. You really want to see their ID and take down their Info, there’s a lot of pretenders out there that will try to scam you. Normally you’ll take them somewhere (we go to a job trailer) and talk to them and see what’s up and why they are there, while also letting everyone that is working onsite know OSHA is here. You have a certain amount of time before you have to let them on to your site to look around. Most of the time they already scouted out your site and took pictures before they introduced themselves but if they didn’t this could help save you a couple citations. You can deny them access but that’s like asking for multiple citations when they come back, and they will, most likely with a court order.

    Just my two cents

  • Investor · Chicago, IL · Member since 2015 · 138 posts · 54 votes
    6y

    @Robert Arquilla much appreciated. The whole incident felt weird. Not professional. He just wrote everything down on a white pad. Was driving in a normal looking car. He talked a big game initially then he didn't follow up on anything he claimed what he was going to do. Which we found odd. He claimed he had no more business cards either to give us. It almost felt like a scam to a extent. Only time will tell. He claimed he was on the phone with the village and requested them to come to the job site but no one showed up. He wanted to verify who was on the permit. Also what was weird he asked for the workers names but didn't ask for Id's to verify who they were. Just weird.

  • Investor · Chicago, IL · Member since 2015 · 138 posts · 54 votes
    6y

    @John Teachout agreed and understood what he was stating. But to be in a middle of a subdivision where there are alot of other new construction going on and he dropped by this site only? Just odd. Thanks for replying.

  • Rental Property Investor · Concord, GA · Member since 2015 · 3k+ posts · 3k+ votes
    6y

    Were there markings on the vehicle? May have been a shyster. Even if he didn't have cards, he should have ID. A pic of that would be good to have.

  • Developer · Charlottesville, VA · Member since 2018 · 4k+ posts · 4k+ votes
    6y
    Originally posted by @Rachel Imhof:

    So we're building a One million plus spec house in Arlington Heights and down the street a real good friend of mine is building his own home. I was at my site today looking at the progress when we decided to walk down to my friend's house and see the progress on theirs. We noticed someone talking to the sub contractor who is in charge of framing the house. My friend asked who the guy was as he was on the phone when we approached. He said OSHA. The gentlemen got off the phone and asked who we were? My friend states he's the homeowner. He immediately states he is with OSHA and that he happened to be driving by and noticed violations. He then proceeded to say he needed to walk the project and take more pictures. No hard hats were worn, no safety glasses for all employees, and the people working on the rafters didn't have harnesses nor were tied off. He then asked each employee to come forward and asked them there names. He mentioned earlier he was going to interview each one of them but never did. Here took the email agrees down of the sub and said he or others would be back periodically to make sure no more violations are happening. My friend them asked if her could issue a warning he said no. That is not effective and people won't learn from that in this trade. He did say it would be about 10 days before he would hear back and didn't know if a citation would be issued or not. We stayed respectful with him as initially it was really heated when we walked up. I just found it odd to see OSHA at a new construction site. This is in a subdivision and he claimed no one called it in and he was in his way to another job site. Just wondering with this vast number of people on this site if anyone has ever had this happen to them and is this really common? If so what was the outcome? I heard fines can be costly. Thanks for listening and I'll update more once I hear what happens next.

    Yes they typically patrol most areas at least quarterly on the residential side of the business while they are in town looking at the commercial projects. We would usually get a heads up that they are in town and just sent everybody home.

  • Investor · Chicago, IL · Member since 2015 · 138 posts · 54 votes
    6y

    @John Teachout nothing on the vehicle. He did have a I.D. but didn't ask him to take a picture of it. He also mentioned he just returned from afganistan 3 months ago. He was active in the Navy and been in the service for 23 years. Has done 5 tours to date. Half of me believes he was legitimate, and then I don't. He did sure sound like he knew what he was talking about. He also pulled out a ruler stick to measure how high the roof was and told them anything above 6 feet the workers had to be tied off with harnesses on.

  • Rental Property Investor · Concord, GA · Member since 2015 · 3k+ posts · 3k+ votes
    6y

    So he needed a ruler to determine if a roof was higher than 6 feet? I haven't seen too many roofs less than that... I think he may have been some nut case.

  • Clayton SmithPro Member
    Rental Property Investor · Tuscaloosa · Member since 2019 · 91 posts · 38 votes
    6y

    An OSHA agent will have some kind of official identification on him when asked, some kind of badge. OSHA can perform a random walk down of a residential home but they often will not. I work in commercial and industrial construction and in my opinion they only want to go after companies that can pay the large fines. OSHA can fine a man not tied off on a roof at least $5,000 per man per incident. That is why they mostly only go after larger commercial contractors. If they give a roofing company in a beat up van $20,000 worth of fines they know it will never get paid. That is why it is unusual for them to hassle residential contractors. But if they think that the builder has big enough pockets residential is an easy target. 

  • Investor · Chicago, IL · Member since 2015 · 138 posts · 54 votes
    6y

    @Greg Dickerson lol. Obviously we didn't get any heads up.

  • Investor · Chicago, IL · Member since 2015 · 138 posts · 54 votes
    6y

    @John Teachout agreed!!

  • Investor · IN (indiana) · Member since 2020 · 109 posts · 53 votes
    6y

    @John Teachout

    I thought the requirement for a harness was over 4 ft. Maybe he was new and just wanted to scare them into shape? IL does take harnesses and hardhats very seriously. It would make sense that he never came back because they are after commercial money. Seems if he was a scammer he would've requested a payment. What did he gain?

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