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OSHA Gearing Up for Random Home Building Site Inspections in Arkansas and Other States

In a Sept. 1 story appearing on Today’s THV Television, Bryon Earls, president of the Home Builders Association of Greater Little Rock, said that his members are already responding to OSHA’s new program to improve the safety of residential construction sites, and he has been making a special effort to educate those in the industry about their responsibilities.

“A few months ago, if you would have gone out to a residential site, you wouldn’t have seen anyone wearing hard hats,” Earls said. But now, “you may see changes in signs posted at job sites that say, ‘warning, no trespassing;’ ‘authorized personnel only;’ or ‘hard hat area.’”

Other safety precautions that are increasingly being taken include the use of hard hats and harnesses to protect workers from falling off roofs.

Of the forthcoming OSHA effort aimed at home builders, Earls told the Little Rock television audience that, “The important thing is it will help job sites and cause them to be safer; we want our job sites to be safe.”

Home builders who ignore OSHA safety requirements could face hefty fines, Earls warned. As for the added costs of purchasing new equipment to improve the safety of residential construction sites, Earls said that most of the expense will probably be passed on to the home buyer. “If it’s done by the book, it’s going to cost more to build a house because it’s going to take a little longer to do it,” he added.

From October of last year through the beginning of September, there were 23-construction-related deaths in Arkansas, compared to 27 during the previous year, the station reported.

For more information, e-mail George Middleton at NAHB, or call him at 800-368-5242 x8590.

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