With few exceptions, safety protocols and practices are not one-size-fits-all solutions. In fact, a safety practice for one trade might create greater risks for another. Such is the case when it comes to roofing.

Exemption Clause Essentials: Ensuring Your Workers’ Safety

General contractors have safety on the mind when hiring roofing companies but sometimes those practices don’t mesh with what actually keeps roofers safe. In this episode, Tammy Clark, owner of Tammy K. Clark companies, explains exemption clauses and how to use them to keep your workers safe.

In order to properly protect workers, roofing companies may need exemptions from a general contractor’s safety guidelines. This isn’t, however, an excuse to forgo safety requirements, so roofing contractors need to know what to look for when creating an optimal working environment.

Tammy Clark, owner of Tammy K. Clark companies and certified safety consultant, speaks with RC Publisher Jill Bloom about what the safety manager of your company needs to do when working with general contractors.

“Discuss feasibility issues, because if they can make their case that I have a feasibility issue here – I’m either creating greater hazards for employees or I’m causing damage to the finished product – sometimes they’ll give you an exemption form,” she said.

Clark cites an example of how one of her clients in Chicago working with a general contractor said they were not to use ropes on the job and instead had to use self-retracting lifelines.

“There’s several problems with that, and so we successfully argued and got an exemption because we are a roofing and exteriors company … my guys are working on a steep slope, they have to use the ropes to move,” she said.

Clark goes into other examples of how to argue for certain exemptions, such as avoiding property damage or creating warranty issues.

Watch the full video here or download the podcast version and listen on the go. Be sure to check out our other safety-related content for more ways to remain safe on the job.