{"id":54,"date":"2011-01-19T11:01:52","date_gmt":"2011-01-19T16:01:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lawsafety.wordpress.com\/?p=54"},"modified":"2011-01-19T11:01:52","modified_gmt":"2011-01-19T16:01:52","slug":"listen-up-building-owners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/law-safety.com\/?p=54","title":{"rendered":"Listen Up Building Owners!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align:center;\"><strong>The following post was published in the January newsletter of Guardian Fall Protection. All owners of buildings\/property managers need to read so they know what is needed for compliance.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>What Every Building Owner Needs to Know<br \/>\nBy Jack Cameron<\/p>\n<p>As soon as the first skyscraper went up, there were window  washers. It&#8217;s a profession that has a lot of inherent danger in it.  Improvised and unsafe equipment or practices were often commonplace.  Even when newer, safer equipment was available, it wasn&#8217;t able to be  used because it wasn&#8217;t authorized for such work.  Tracey Domaszowec,  whose husband, Robert died in New York City after falling seventeen  stories while cleaning windows said, &#8220;People don&#8217;t realize that being  married to a window cleaner is very much like being married to a fireman  or a policeman,&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Building owners have often left it up to the individual contractors  to counter the dangers of window washing and other work at suspended  heights. This was because up until recently there were no real hard,  fast rules specific to window washing. This has changed. The  International Window Cleaners Association (IWCA) created a standard  called IWCA I-14.1-2001. This standard was created over the course of  almost five years and involved individuals from every aspect of the  industry.<\/p>\n<p>The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) approved IWCA  I-14.1-2001 in October of 2001. While the ANSI\/IWCA I-14.1-2001 Standard  hasn&#8217;t been officially adopted by OSHA, this has not stopped OSHA from  issuing serious citations under the general duty clause. These new  standards not only make window washing safer, but also say specifically  what building owners, property professionals, and window washing  contractors are responsible for.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The building owner or property professional must  provide  written documentation from a professional structural engineer that the   roof anchors being used are certified to withstand the expected loads  necessary  for any work being done.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Any permanent equipment being used for window  cleaning must  be inspected and maintained by the property professional or operating   agent. Documentation of this maintenance and inspection must be provided  to the  window cleaning contractor.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Manufacturer instructions on all equipment being  used that  includes the load ratings, limitations, and intended use must be   supplied to the window cleaning contractor.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>If the window cleaning contractor uses their own  equipment  and attaches it to any part of the building, it must be inspected to   ensure that the anchor point will hold the expected load. It is often  necessary  that this be done by a structural engineer.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>As a building owner, you can no longer just assume that the window  washer contractors are responsible for the safety of their workers. As  the building owner, you now have specific responsibilities. The  ANSI\/IWCA I-14.1-2001 Standard requires that building owners and  property professionals be responsible for the following:<\/p>\n<p>these rules apply to all building three stories or higher. If there  is no appropriate anchor point for suspended work, the building must be  retrofitted with certified anchor points before any work can begin. In  addition to this, any new buildings three stories or higher are required  to have anchor points in the initial designs.<\/p>\n<p>The ANSI\/IWCA I-14.1-2001 Standard also requires that window  washers and other workers doing any suspended work provide written  assurances to the building owner or property professional that all work  they perform will comply with all applicable local, state, and federal  laws. They also must provide documentation proving all workers have had  the appropriate training and are certified to use all equipment being  used for their work.<\/p>\n<p>This standard makes a dangerous job safer, but it also puts  building owners on notice that they need to make sure the workers on  their buildings have the proper training and equipment in order to avoid  liability.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.iwca.org\/\">http:\/\/www.iwca.org\/<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.boma.org\/\">www.boma.org<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.ansi.org\/\">http:\/\/www.ansi.org\/ <\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2008\/08\/28\/nyregion\/28windowwasher.html\">http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2008\/08\/28\/nyregion\/28windowwasher.html<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Go to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.guardianfall.com\/\">www.guardianfall.com<\/a> for additional information.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The following post was published in the January newsletter of Guardian Fall Protection. All owners of buildings\/property managers need to read so they know what is needed for compliance. What Every Building Owner Needs to Know By Jack Cameron As soon as the first skyscraper went up, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-54","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-about-l-a-w-construction-safety-consultants","category-osha-inspections"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/law-safety.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/law-safety.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/law-safety.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law-safety.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law-safety.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=54"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/law-safety.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/law-safety.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=54"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law-safety.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=54"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law-safety.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=54"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}