SAFETY CORNER


AGC Member Firms Embrace Safety Stand Down Events Statewide


spring as part of a national effort to raise awareness and increase safety in the construction industry. Swinerton, Clark Construction,


N


NOVA and Walsh-Shea Corridor Constructors were just a few of the many AGC member contractors participating in this year’s National Safety Stand-Down for Fall Protection week May 7-11, 2018. Te contractors


umerous AGC of California member contractors hosted safety awareness events this


highlighted safety on their jobsites throughout the state, joining the many companies and workers around the country that participated in the annual effort to raise awareness of preventing fall hazards in construction. Fatalities caused by falls from


Nearly 1,000 workers were in attendance at the Safety Stand Down events held by Walsh-Shea Corridor Constructors at the LAX/Crenshaw project in Los Angeles.


elevation continue to be a leading cause of death for construction workers.


Swinerton employees attend a Safety Stand Down event at their Adventist Health jobsite in Northern California.


According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 370 of the 991 construction fatalities in 2016 were caused by falls from elevation. For more information about


OSHA’s ongoing efforts on preventing fall hazards go to https://www.osha. gov/StopFallsStandDown/index.html. For more information on AGC of California’s Safety & Health Council, go to http://www.agc-ca.org/Member- Services/Safety-Health. 


details, or conditions of the work is not necessary to create employee status. (B) Te worker performs work that


is outside the usual course of the hiring entity’s business. Te Court offered examples. For one, if a retailer hired a plumber or electrician to perform property maintenance at its place of business, such work would be outside the retailer’s normal business activities, and thus, the tradesperson would possibly be considered an independent contractor. However, if a clothing manufacturer hired a tailor or a baker to decorate custom cakes at home, such activities are the same or similar to what the hiring business commonly performs; in that case, such workers would be deemed employees. Accordingly, general contractors


that sometimes perform their own landscaping work might be employers


www.AGC-CA.org


of their subcontractor landscaper’s employees, or because all construction trades are considered part of the same trade, occupation, and business of general contractors’ typical work. (C) Te worker is customarily


engaged in an independently established trade, occupation, or business of the same nature as the work performed for the hiring entity. For example, to prove separate existence and activity, workers might prove they are working for multiple different hirers or contractors concurrently; might have a distinct incorporation or business entity formation; work at different locations; have licensing unrelated to the hirer; or might advertise to obtain work from others than the hirer.


More Employer Responsibility To some extent, the Dynamex


decision’s presumption of employer liability does not increase liabilities to which general contractors are accustomed. California public works payment bonds and AB 1701 (California Labor Code section 218.7) already include such burdens. However, Dynamex continues the


trend in California law toward heaping more responsibilities upon employers. With these legal uncertainties and rising standards, hirers’ and workers’ choices diminish, and hirers’ prospects to comply with all laws and satisfy everyone diminish as well. 


Ronald B. Pierce is President of


RB PIERCE, A Professional Law Corporation, and is Griffith Company’s general counsel. He can be reached at


949.244.9367, rbpierceaplc@gmail. com, or at www.rbpierceaplc.com.


Associated General Contractors of California 23


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28