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Following these principles of leadership will help you and your employees focus on job safety:

1. Don’t walk by. It is everyone’s responsibility to prevent any potentially unsafe acts and conditions they witness from turning into accidents.
2. STOP! Encourage employees to stop working whenever they feel unsafe, no matter what reason they give.
3. Focus on a safe working environment. If you expect your workers to work safely, make their workplace as safe as possible.
4. Don’t blame the worker first. Unsafe ways of working, accidents, incidents, and ill health aren’t necessarily the worker’s fault. The problem often comes from less obvious causes, such as decisions by management.
5. Use your workforce for ideas. Employees often have a more accurate idea than you or your managers about which safety and health practices will work, because they deal with these issues every day.
6. Be patient. Don’t expect quick wins. Improvements will emerge over time, but only if you stick with them.
7. Explain your decisions. Just telling workers that something is wrong or a safety risk isn’t enough. If they’re to act on the information you provide, they need to know why and how to avoid harm.
8. Lead by example. Your behavior sends powerful signals. If you carry out your job in a safe way, your workers are more likely to do the same. If you don’t, they won’t imitate you.
9. Focus on co-operation. Treat your subcontractors in the same way as employees by encouraging them to communicate with each other.
10. Don’t neglect occupational health. If you look after the health, as well as the safety, of your workers today, you’re less likely to create problems for them or your business tomorrow.

Sound advice!

Each year around 1,000 trips or slips on construction sites result in fractured bones or dislocated joints, often leading to permanent disability, harming workplace morale, reducing productivity, and raising insurance premiums. Many of these accidents are due to negligence in dealing with building materials or waste.

Safe site operation requires co-ordination between the client, contractor(s), and suppliers. Before beginning a project, agree with the client on arrangements for handling materials and waste. Larger projects should include this agreement in the construction phase plan.

To reduce the risk of mishaps in storing materials, experts recommend that you:

• designate storage areas for materials, waste, and flammable or hazardous substances
• don’t allow storage to ‘spread’ on walkways or store materials where they might obstruct access or interfere with emergency escape routes
• store flammable materials separately and protect them from accidental ignition
• install guard rails if materials are stored in high places
• keep all storage areas tidy
• plan deliveries to keep the amount of materials on site to a minimum

In dealing with waste, decide how to manage waste streams produced during construction and assign responsibility for collecting and disposing of these materials on site.

Waste risk reduction guidelines include:

• Have all flammable waste materials (such as packaging and lumber) cleared away regularly to reduce the risk of fire
• Make clearing waste a priority for all workers, and be sure that everyone is on the same page
• Include enough space for waste bins and containers in accessible locations, and set a schedule for collection
• Provide carts or chutes for safe removal of waste from the building safely

Our construction insurance professionals stand ready to advise you on keeping your workplace safe.

No matter how much care you take to keep job sites safe and finish projects according to specifications, accidents happen. Consider these scenarios:

• an improperly installed kitchen cabinet shelf in a home you built collapses, injuring the owner
• one of your employees posts a blog accusing a competitor of shoddy workmanship
• a visitor to your worksite trips over an air hose, falls, and fractures her leg

To protect your business against the financial threat of costly litigation from such all-too-common mishaps, you need construction liability insurance.

This coverage will pay costs and legal expenses, up to the amount of the policy, for something your business did, or failed to do, that damages a third party, related to 1) your products or services (products and completes operations); 2) allegations of slander (personal and advertising injury); or 2) injury on your premises or job site (medical expenses).

As a common business practice, both residential and commercial clients will require you,and your subcontractors, to show evidence of construction liability insurance before starting a job.

In general, residential contractors should buy coverage two to three times the amount of the construction budget. Commercial contractors usually carry policies in the multi-million dollar range. Firms that face higher risk of damages, for example, roofing contractors or those in specialized trades, tend to have more coverage. Some contractors prefer to pay their premiums up front, while others make a down payment and finance the premium over the policy period (six months to a year).

No matter how large or small your business, having comprehensive construction liability insurance is always the best policy.

We’d be happy to review your situation and recommend the coverage that’s best suited for you.

Environmentally-friendly construction, also known as “green” construction, is increasing rapidly in the United States. Concerns about global climate change, U.S. dependence on foreign sources of energy, and rising energy costs are inspiring individuals and businesses to construct buildings with a reduced carbon footprint. This trend has important implications for settlement of insurance claims when green buildings suffer damage.

A green building is one that has met the requirements for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification. The U.S. Green Building Council developed LEED in 1998 as a way to help building owners identify and use practical and measurable designs, construction, operations and maintenance practices that are environmentally-friendly. Green buildings are, compared to standard buildings, more energy and water efficient, produce less carbon dioxide, and have a healthier indoor environment.

Some states and municipalities have begun to adopt building codes that require elements of green construction. California has imposed tougher water efficiency standards on new residential construction; New York City is considering more stringent energy-use standards for large buildings. The impact of these requirements on construction costs will vary by location. Green construction might require specialized materials and methods; in the near term, contractors with expertise in these methods may be relatively scarce. Therefore, in some places the cost of complying with green building codes could be higher than building with standard materials and methods, and that will impact insurance coverage.

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The factors that will influence the claim include:

• Whether the green building code applies to new construction only or also to major renovations.
• What the code defines as a “major renovation.” Some codes might consider renovations affecting more than a specified percentage of the building’s area as a major renovation.
• How will use of green building materials affect the building’s appearance? The property owner might lose enthusiasm for a repair if a change in appearance will lower the building’s market value.
• How will the new materials interact with the existing building components? Will integrating the new materials increase rebuilding time and cost?
• Are qualified contractors available in the area?
• Will wait times for green contractors and materials result in costly project delays?
• How does the building code apply in the event of a large natural catastrophe, such as an earthquake or hurricane? Must property owners meet the higher standards at a time when hundreds of properties have suffered damage?
• After a catastrophe, will there be long wait times for contractors to haul away debris because of overwhelmed landfills and recycling centers? Will there be long wait times for building inspectors to visit and approve all of the effected properties?

Standard personal and commercial property insurance policies provide very limited amounts of coverage for ordinance or law” losses — extra costs incurred to meet local building requirements. Additional coverage is available; property owners in areas with green building codes should speak with our insurance agents about options and costs.

Research and publishing company McGraw-Hill Construction has predicted that the market for non-residential building retrofitting with green construction will grow to $15 billion by 2014. Property owners and insurance companies will have to address these questions much more often in the near future; the time to answer them is before the losses occur.