Gunshot Wound

Interesting thread.

I can't comment on the pressure washing equipment, but I have experiences with welding machines and osha. Both electric and gas powered. I have been on or had guys on jobs where psha would happen to stop by. Aside from all the usual paper work they wanted, one of the items asked for on several occasions was osha certification for the welders.

The first time it happened I had to call my lws to ask what osha wanted. Come to find out I was ok as all my machines were serviced regularly there and every time they serviced a machine, they checked that it was osha compliant. I never really knew what all the requirements were, but I had the reciepts so II was covered.

Just a thought. especially with electric machines.


This is a very good point but another point is:

I have heard numerous times that if you are an owner/operator with no helper around then a lot of the OSHA rules do not apply.

I have not looked into this but it might be worth looking into.
 
This is a very good point but another point is:

I have heard numerous times that if you are an owner/operator with no helper around then a lot of the OSHA rules do not apply.

I have not looked into this but it might be worth looking into.
All OSHA rules apply if some one gets hurt. or worse. 10 employees or less and you are exempt from a random check unless you are on a job site and the inspector feels like being a weenie. And on gov work, 1 or a hundred employees, all the same. There is much more.
 
Hey Tom, please point out where someone took a dump on your post, I can't see it!!!!!

Got to agree with Nick, You were looking for a reason to get pissed Dude!!!!

Hope that "Bridging The Gap" between MFG & Contractor really works for ya!!!!!


I agree with Guy, nobody took a dump on his post or this thread.

Someone needs to go tell J.G. that he is a manufacturer since he builds his own rigs custom. hahahahaha

I kind of see this thread as a few things like is it a warning? Scare tactics? Things to get you to open your mind to the liability of building or modifying equipment? or all the above?

I think that it could be viewed as a lot of things but we are smart guys here that work on our equipment ourselves as much as we can to both learn how to do it ourselves, save some money but mostly to make sure that it is done right without messing up anything along the way.

This is our livelihood so we will protect it with all we have!
 
I agree with Guy, nobody took a dump on his post or this thread.

Someone needs to go tell J.G. that he is a manufacturer since he builds his own rigs custom. hahahahaha

I kind of see this thread as a few things like is it a warning? Scare tactics? Things to get you to open your mind to the liability of building or modifying equipment? or all the above?

I think that it could be viewed as a lot of things but we are smart guys here that work on our equipment ourselves as much as we can to both learn how to do it ourselves, save some money but mostly to make sure that it is done right without messing up anything along the way.

This is our livelihood so we will protect it with all we have!
That is the most intense statement you have made in awhile.
 
This a great thread!

This shows how many contractors work on their equipment, how they feel about working on their equipment, how they feel about shops, how they feel about downtime and working on their equipment while miles or thousands of miles away from home out there working to feed their families.
 
All OSHA rules apply if some one gets hurt. or worse. 10 employees or less and you are exempt from a random check unless you are on a job site and the inspector feels like being a weenie. And on gov work, 1 or a hundred employees, all the same. There is much more.

Mark, Osha has no jurisdiction over a business owner without employees or helpers. It doesn't matter if he gets hurt or dies. Osha has no jurisdiction.

Your statement "1 or a hundred employees...." is correct, but with zero employees there are NO OSHA requirements.

We have gone round and round about this on the HVAC boards for my son and me (both co-owners) going up in the lift without harnesses.

Finally I sent a picture of us on the lift with no harnesses along with the link to our corporate status showing us as both officers to the local OSHA office and one in California. I never got a response from the one in California, but the local one called me and stated "Osha was made to protect employees, not owners. Osha has no jurisdiction over business owners" and further added that if Chris and I wanted to swing from lift to lift we could and Osha would and could do nothing about it and could care less.

Also, for the record, aerial training and/or certification is NOT required for owners and is ONLY required for the employees who actually touch the controls on the lift.

It wasn't till 2002 that employees using the lift as a "means of elevation" to another level were required to wear a harness at all. Prior to that, harnesses were only required if actually working "from" the lift.

My son and I DO NOT wear harnesses. If you take a look at all the aerial deaths over the past 25 years almost all of them are the result of operator error while moving the lift into a working position. In some cases the harness itself contributed to the accident. 95% of our lift use is simply to bring us up to another level like an elevator.

With that said, we do have lots of harnesses on the trucks and any helpers, temps or employees are required to latch up and wear a harness until they are safely on the roof.

Also, we don't let them touch the controls.

Zero employees - NO OSHA REQUIREMENTS

1+ employee - MUST COMPLY WITH OSHA.

EDITED TO ADD THE FOLLOWING: You are right about the government jobs. Sometimes the contract will require that you follow OSHA requirements or you will not get the work, even if you are the owner. That's not an OSHA rule, that's just the government entity requirement to get the work.
 
That may be true, but my Moms first husband was tossed frpm a lift and killed. I won't go up in a lift without a harness, even though it happened over 50 years ago.
 
Mark, Osha has no jurisdiction over a business owner without employees or helpers. It doesn't matter if he gets hurt or dies. Osha has no jurisdiction.

Your statement "1 or a hundred employees...." is correct, but with zero employees there are NO OSHA requirements.

We have gone round and round about this on the HVAC boards for my son and me (both co-owners) going up in the lift without harnesses.

Finally I sent a picture of us on the lift with no harnesses along with the link to our corporate status showing us as both officers to the local OSHA office and one in California. I never got a response from the one in California, but the local one called me and stated "Osha was made to protect employees, not owners. Osha has no jurisdiction over business owners" and further added that if Chris and I wanted to swing from lift to lift we could and Osha would and could do nothing about it and could care less.

Also, for the record, aerial training and/or certification is NOT required for owners and is ONLY required for the employees who actually touch the controls on the lift.

It wasn't till 2002 that employees using the lift as a "means of elevation" to another level were required to wear a harness at all. Prior to that, harnesses were only required if actually working "from" the lift.

My son and I DO NOT wear harnesses. If you take a look at all the aerial deaths over the past 25 years almost all of them are the result of operator error while moving the lift into a working position. In some cases the harness itself contributed to the accident. 95% of our lift use is simply to bring us up to another level like an elevator.

With that said, we do have lots of harnesses on the trucks and any helpers, temps or employees are required to latch up and wear a harness until they are safely on the roof.

Also, we don't let them touch the controls.

Zero employees - NO OSHA REQUIREMENTS

1+ employee - MUST COMPLY WITH OSHA.


EDITED TO ADD THE FOLLOWING: You are right about the government jobs. Sometimes the contract will require that you follow OSHA requirements or you will not get the work, even if you are the owner. That's not an OSHA rule, that's just the government entity requirement to get the work.

+100 :yes:
 
Somebody tell me the difference between replacing a pump, belt, or engine on a skid versus putting a pump, engine, and belts on a skid. I have built several machines and they are identical to any machine from any distributer.

Responsibility of design. When you buy and replace parts on a machine, you did not technically design it. When you are putting it together, you are technically designing the machine.
 
If you mis-match parts, or have no idea what you're doing, then yea, you could run in to a big problem.

I'm sure Tom's a good guy, but when you come here and say "It Blows My Mind That You're Building Your Own Stuff" I mean Come On!!

Tom didn't come to this board to give advice, or help with a tech issue. He came here to sell equipment, and that's cool!!!! But like one of the guys said "I didn't just fall off a turnip truck" Most of the contractors here have built or designed their stuff, and lets face it, we're not talking about building rockets here. Motor, pump, unloader, that's it! Sure there are variables for hot water, but Come On, it ain't like you've got to have a piece of paper from MIT to build one.

He's not building his stuff from the ground up either. MTM machine stuck in a trailer and plumbed up, that's it. How many guys here have done that?

I was still cool with Tom until his 2nd post, that where he lost me. That post was totally uncalled for, disrespectful, and unprofessional.

And if his mind is blown, then tell me why Bob W., Russ J., Delco, Espec, Sunbrite and all the rest aren't freaked out too??? Because those folks respect the Contractor and help the Contractor!

There's a line you just don't cross, Tom jumped over it!
 
Its to bad that PWI lost Tom Dubin because from what I hear he builds top of the line equipment who comes highly recommended. I think the point he was trying to make was building a machine from the ground up. If something was to go wrong were an employee got hurt I can see his point.

Maybe we could have disagreed with him some but in a more diplomatic matter might have caused him to stay so he can debate his point a little bit more. From what I read here on this post I think he was right and I also don't think he really meant just changing a hose or two.

We all see things differently at times and I am sorry to see him go.
 
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