Jay, I know you’ve been involved as a consultant in multiple accident lawsuits. What do you think are the main focal points of these lawsuits?
There are 2 items that keep appearing and both have to do with documentation
- Training documentation. If the operator doesn’t perform his/her duties in accordance with the OSHA standards, OSHA will cite the employer. If it goes to lawsuit, a good attorney will build on the OSHA citation and incorporate all other applicable standards like ANSI, ASME, PCSA, DOT, NFPA or SAE.
- Daily inspection documentation. This is the sneaky one. OSHA can and will cite the company if they are missing daily inspections. Equipment manufacturers include daily inspection checklists in their operator’s manuals, making daily inspection documentation a mandate. When there’s an accident and it goes to trial, a good lawyer will build their case on the missing daily inspection documents.
Why don’t people like doing daily inspections, and why should they do them anyway?
I liken doing daily inspections like going to the dentist. You really don’t like going to that routine dental appointment, but if you avoid them, you risk big dental bills from root canals and crowns. If you avoid daily inspections, you risk big fines and liability problems if there’s ever an accident.
How can the Cranes Safety Portal make the daily inspection process simpler, even painless?
I’ve been there. After scrapping the last of our wall of filing cabinets (we had about 20) I wanted a way to get beyond the lost handwritten reports and the incomplete reports and the back office hours of documenting the same reports that had already been documented by the inspector and then the scanning and filing. Whew, I don’t miss those days. We cut our administrative costs dramatically.
Imagine, your operator performs their daily inspection on their cell phone, hits submit, and it’s saved permanently on a cloud. No pen search, no paper, no lost documentation, and no filing.
What do companies need to do to use it?
Simply reach out to Cranes at 508-966-4100. We’ll evaluate your needs quickly and painlessly, and get you set up.