Comments for The Builders Counsel: A Construction Law Blog from Washington Construction Lawyer & LEED AP Douglas S. Reiser

Comment on Is LEED Construction Less Safe Than Traditional Construction? by Maria Viteri

Maria Viteri — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 17:58:01 +0000

If we are training at the design level we should be training at the construction level, clear and simple. As had been pointed out above, there are job site safety requirements that trained contractors understand and take seriously as part of their business practices. Our organization has been training contractors on LEED compliance for over 2 years and have never once heard about increased safety concerns. Additionally organization deals with new products and new construction practices on a daily basis. When approached by new product manufacturers we estimate the success of the product based on its application AND its constructability. To suggest that we may not be able to move forward with different design requirements because they can not be safely constructed only suggests that we critically lack trained craftworkers on the jobsite.

Comment on Filing A Washington Lien, Made Easy by Save a Legal Fee: Making a Wage Claim Without Calling an Attorney / The Builders Counsel: A Construction Law Blog from Washington Construction Lawyer & LEED AP Douglas S. Reiser

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 17:35:20 +0000

[...] must file their claim against the property within 90 days of their last day of work on the project. Follow these instructions for filing your own lien. These simple tools can help get you paid before you have to turn to a lawyer. If these tools [...]

Comment on Are You a Contractor or Employee?: The Dreaded 1099 Dilemma by Save a Legal Fee: Ways To Get Paid Without Calling an Attorney / The Builders Counsel: A Construction Law Blog from Washington Construction Lawyer & LEED AP Douglas S. Reiser

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 17:35:01 +0000

[...] also avoid paying overtime, workers compensation, holidays, etc. The problem is that it’s very difficult to prevent the state from classifying your workers as your employees. Laborers working without a construction registration are probably employees, and have a richer [...]

Comment on Is LEED Construction Less Safe Than Traditional Construction? by Study shines a light on builders’ risk when pursing LEED | Eco Custom Home's Newsroom

Sat, 18 Feb 2012 22:27:33 +0000

[...] Original Here No Comments Category Technical News | Tags: building-sites,empirical-study,higher-at-building,leed [...]

Comment on Is LEED Construction Less Safe Than Traditional Construction? by More To Come On The Issue of Sustainable Construction Safety, But For Now….. / The Builders Counsel: A Construction Law Blog from Washington Construction Lawyer & LEED AP Douglas S. Reiser

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 18:38:59 +0000

[...] have been peppered with a mass of responses to the post that I published a few weeks back about safety concerns on LEED projects. It’s been a heck of a conversation. More to come on that next week, but for now some changes [...]

Comment on Is LEED Construction Less Safe Than Traditional Construction? by Douglas Reiser

Douglas Reiser — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 18:16:23 +0000

Ron –

I like the honesty. But your post makes a good point about a large portion of the legal profession, including the judges making decisions about the degree of danger on the job site. While I am a construction attorney that has a lot of experience on the job site, many are not. This is why studies like this require the attention of all attorneys, whether they agree or not; whether they think it’s flawed or not. Your legal counsel’s job is to keep you away from harm and that requires attention to all potential risks.

Thanks for the comment.

Comment on Is LEED Construction Less Safe Than Traditional Construction? by Ron Korzecke

Ron Korzecke — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 16:55:16 +0000

I must agree with all of the posts to some degree.

Construction safety has been a big concern for some time now (When was OSHA created?) and most good contractors conduct “Toolbox Talks” on a weekly basis to sort of remind the workers how to perform safely.

I’m not being snide or demeaning to the lawyers but……….there are far too many of them and I believe that they create too much hand-wringing throughout all of America.

This article seems to illustrate just that.

Perhaps the legal tribe needs to spend more time on construction sites to gain a purer perspective of construction safety.

No spitballs, no bullets…….just the truth. Sometimes it can be painful.

Comment on Is LEED Construction Less Safe Than Traditional Construction? by Christian Rogers

Christian Rogers — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 00:41:58 +0000

If the design of the building calls for a particular component or system, it is the responsibility of the contractor and sub-contractor to build or refuse the project. You could argue that a project with 20% increased scope is likely to result in 20% more additional danger to the contractor. Correct. If you don’t want the job, stay home. If you want the job, incorporate the risks into your bid and bid accordingly. LEED has little bearing on this.

Comment on Is LEED Construction Less Safe Than Traditional Construction? by Lloyd Kinch

Lloyd Kinch — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 22:58:58 +0000

I suspect that a substantial reason for greater accident rates in performance of this work is poor training of the folks selling and performing some of these non-traditional products installations. Many of the folks that have approached us with “green” solutions have been the old time snake oil salesman trying to get over by painting themselves green.
Buyer beware or at least skeptical.

Comment on Is LEED Construction Less Safe Than Traditional Construction? by Douglas Reiser

Douglas Reiser — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 21:56:15 +0000

Phil:

Thanks for the comment. I wouldn’t call it “sensational” or “journalism” – let alone “sensational journalism.” It’s a simple law blog, discussing news that might impact contractors and contracts. It’s brief and to the point: there is a study out there that makes you wonder whether we need to think about liability differently.

I do think that your questions about the sample, variables, scope, etc. of the study are important. It is still my biggest wonder as I am currently trying to obtain a copy of the complete study to assess the methods used.

Even with those unanswered questions still out there – I still think the study should be a caution. It is better to protect against something than to not. The study at least does a good job of identifying key concerns and some potential remedies. I can get behind that type of problem solving, even if you do not agree to the magnitude of the problem.

As lawyers, we cannot always be 100% subjective. We need to be as objective as possible. If the USGBC itself is concerned by the findings, we need to be as well.

Thanks for comment. Good spitballing.