Alec Caldwell
Russian Roulette on badly-constructed scaffolding: Caldwell
Canadian ContractorThe company's motto was/is "Reface with Elegance." The Ministry of Labour was looking for these guys within hours.
When you roll the dice, it’s just a matter of time before lady luck runs out and there’s a price to be paid!
How about these two workers in my photo (right/above)? They are chancing their luck on their badly constructed scaffolding. They were pointing the brickwork on a homeowner’s main residence.
I snapped this photo the day before the Ministry of Labour (Mol) showed up at the same site. By then, they had disappeared and the scaffolding was gone, too. Only my photo remains as evidence of their short game of Russian Roulette.
I’m sure these guys will be back on the job, in a similar set up, soon. Some people may say that they will deserve what they get if they fall to their deaths, or are confined to wheelchairs for the rest of their lives. But that won’t help their families, who are totally innocent of wrongdoing even as these men break the law.
The guy in my top photo is working off two open planks, meaning the work surface is not fully covered, as required by law. There are open edges for workers to fall from. Where are their guardrails? They are supposed to fully enclose workers from falling. There are no access ladders to climb up and down on – they are using monkey bars instead. The law requires a tied down ladder as the means of access to all levels of scaffolding.
The scaffold was clearly not level, was not tied in, had no safety pins. A disaster waiting to happen.
Now, get this. The motto for this company was, “Reface with Elegance.”
Sorry guys, there is no elegance anywhere in sight here.
Only stupidity.
Proper use of scaffolding is part of the required Working at Heights training course in Ontario.
CARAHS is a Ministry of Labour (Ontario) Approved Working at Heights Training Provider (Pro # 34609) August Special
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I find it laughable how precious everyone has become.
What ever happened to being responsible for ones own actions?
The last time I checked, the prevailing theory was “survival of the fittest”, not survival of the most well-padded or most obedient.
If someone builds an unsafe scaffold and gets hurt it’s their own fault, not their employer and not the home owner.
The fact that the MoL and the province profit from the fines they hand out to people like this is just as nauseating as their half-assed attempt at constructing scaffolding.
Actually Chris, it is my understanding that the proceeds from fines issued by the Ministry of Labour go to the municipality in which they were issued, not to the ministry nor the province. I agree we should all be responsible for our actions and the legislation is also geared towards that, but it is also geared towards those in authority, i.e., supervisors and employers, who should know better, to ensure compliance.
I was once a young ignorant worker (not much has changed but I did age a bit) just working hard trying to make a living. One day, I met a MoL inspector, who had discovered that my employer had not been following regulations and – unbeknownst to me and my colleagues – we ended up with over 1,300 hrs exposure to type 3 asbestos. We blindly did what our employer told us to do, assuming that what we were doing was right.
These two gentleman in the photo may or may not know what they are doing is unsafe. They might think it is but if they are told to do it and have hungry kids at home, does their ignorance and need to make an income mean they deserve the possibility of getting seriously hurt or dying?
Thanks Matt for responding and explaining. Your answer was eloquent.
Hi Chris: When I was 20 and working on renovations for the first time, when I think about the half-assed crap I blindly did on ladders and roofs, and with electrical panels not knowing what the hell I was doing, at total risk of being dead or a quadriplegic today, I sure wish some MOL inspectors had come around my sites. I was asked to single handedly dig a trench for a foundation, which took me a week. I burned a four inch hole in my shovel when I propelled it right through the electrical mains with my tennis shoe… boss hadn’t even called hydro to find out where the lines were running. I went up ladders and over roofs in torrential rain, not a tie-off or a harness in sight. We once opened up an electrical panel in a restaurant mechanical closet that was being cascaded with water from a broken pipe above, to look for the shut off. I remember reaching in to pull the lever with my bare hands, water running down my face so hard I couldn’t even see six inches. “Is this safe?” I asked my boss. “It will be when you pull the lever,” he said calmly.
Chris, I’m responding to your words, “Laughable how precious everyone’s become.” Let me say, when a worker fell to his death from a scaffold and I was onsite at the time, I knew that his suffering ended shortly after he hit the ground. But ask his wife and two kids how precious he was to them. Ask his sister and parents. His income stopped, they had no life insurance, so the hat was passed around the Polish community to help the family. That’s how precious we are to others around us.
I hope you had your car in park before you took that picture. What about mandatory training for using extension cords? Or get your mandatory “Working with Table Saws” training. Would you go to jobsites and take pictures of overloaded outlets and saws without guards? More rules, more bureaucracy, more taxes.
Rob, seriously, you think that this photo is OK? We should be OK with this because otherwise it’s just “more bureaucracy”? CANADIAN CONTRACTOR has complained louder than any other trade magazine in any other industry, in my opinion, about bureaucracies, stupid regulations and taxes masquerading as “fees.” But that doesn’t extend to endorsing idiocy like we see in this photo.
Steve,
I’m serious about less government. If we’re not affecting anyone else why can’t we use scaffolding the way we want? Because the MOL cares about our innocent families? Give me a break. More people die legally from liver cirrhosis every year than do from breaking the law with scaffolding. Where’s the government’s bleeding heart then? Some things should just be common sense and left alone.
Also, I think it’s in poor taste to post an article calling these guys stupid and mocking their slogan.
Who would have known this article would rile people up? But that’s good, as it’s about speaking up about issues we feel passionate about. This way conversation hopefully occurs and we hear everyone’s take on these situations. But hopefully it’s about keeping an open mind. Closed minds are dangerous.
As we have here, I often see comments, like we have from Rob here, that when I speak up for safety regulations, somehow I am in favour of self-serving government bureaucracy.
Are you kidding me. Where do I start?
I’ve written 30 times about the WSIB throwing claimants under the bus – and people losing their homes and more through this. That’s while the top 13 employees at WSIB, last year, earned a combined $13 million plus expenses. Just enter WSIB in the search bar to read more.
How about the Ontario College of Trades? Another piece of bureaucracy. I’m against them and have written lots about this here. My organization, CARAHS, went to Queen’s Park with massive banner and air horns to demonstrate against this useless organization. Were you there protesting, too, Rob? Maybe I missed you.
And Rob, not long ago, I received a call from a better half saying her husband was in a coma after his fall off a roof. And you say, sarcastically, why don’t we also promote power tool safety. I shook a man called Oliver’s left hand recently. He had lost most of the fingers on his other hand by carelessly operating a band saw.
You want more? My buddy Jack fell 21 feet off a residential roof. Landed on his feet. But that wasn’t good. His shoe size was adjusted double in 1.5 seconds. Seven months later, he said of the leg and ankle and foot agony, “I did not realize one second would change my life forever and I don’t know how long I can take the pain.” He spent one year in a wheelchair. After one more year, WSIB cut him off. This all happened 15 years ago. Today, he still can’t drive. He’s self-employed, lives alone. He’s an alcoholic.
If you think mocking someone’s slogan or calling them stupid is wrong, Rob, this is small fry compared to the big picture. What do you think their loved ones would call them, if they knew what dangers they put their entire family in?
It does not take much longer to set things up better to make sure we go home every night, maybe open a beer and see the family. Everyone makes their own choices in life and you’ll make yours, Rob.
Thanks everyone for speaking up.