Share and Share Alike?
Don't Forget OSHA Regulations when you
Loan Equipment to other Contractors on a Job
Heavy Equipment
News, February 2003
By Robert Baldwin, Safety Resources, Inc.
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Equipment sharing is a fact of life on construction sites.
Even the most well-planned jobs may require the use of a particular piece of
equipment that was “unanticipated” or “not in the budget.” Someone on the job
site might say, “If we borrow your manlift for just five minutes to set these
fixtures, we don’t have to spend a whole day erecting a scaffold.”
In the reality of everyday construction, equipment sharing
is a practical necessity to minimize costs and keep production and phased work
on track. Without sharing, the general conditions costs escalate and
subcontractor bids have heavy mobilization costs to cover equipment use or
rental agreements. Therefore most field foremen and site superintendents don’t
think twice about answering “yes” when asked to share the telehandler or backhoe
for just a few minutes.
Field managers don’t realize that when they loan out the
piece of equipment, they also loan out to the other contractor the limits of the
company commercial general liability policy. Depending on the type of equipment,
the decision to share may “loan out” the company’s auto liability coverage as
well.
OSHA compliance officers often question the care and
control of equipment when determining which contractor is responsible for
equipment maintenance records, inspection requirements and operator training.
And, unlike indemnity wavers that can be used for protecting the company
insurance policy, indemnity waivers do not apply to the OSHA regulations
regarding equipment safety and multi-employer statutory obligations for creating
and maintaining a safe workplace.
If you loan or borrow equipment, keep a few practical
approaches to safety and risk management in mind:
- Provide equipment-specific operator training or require that the borrower
prove they have training. Keep records or certification cards on site.
- Maintain maintenance and/or inspection records for all
equipment under your control, even if the equipment is leased. At an
absolute minimum, be able to prove that operators visually inspected the
machine before use.
- Structure contracts with subcontractors to indemnify
your company if you loan equipment. Ask your safety professional, insurance
agent and legal council to provide you with indemnity clause language,
wavier of subjugation clause language and OSHA compliance methods.
- Remember the powerful common-sense approach of
behaving like a reasonable person, as defined by OSHA. Ask yourself, “Would
a reasonable person hand over a $100,000+ piece of equipment and give
operating permission to someone they never met before?”