Roofing Contractors Association of Nevada

OSHA and Construction Defect Top Agenda

by Joe Wheeler

From The Construction Zone: June 2000

An OSHA controversy in the north and construction defects in the south.

That’s how Mark Paxson, Metric Roofing, summed up the Roofing Contractors Association’s main concerns at a packed meeting at Las Vegas Roofing Supply.

The roofing association has two branches, one in Reno and the other in Las Vegas. The Las Vegas roofers came together as an emergency measure to defeat a bill in the Nevada Legislature that would have required them to offer guarantees up to the product’s duration.

For the roofing industry, this would have meant warranting certain roofing products up to 50 years from time of installation. Through their efforts, the bill was defeated.

That threat overcome, the Las Vegas and Reno roofers joined in a statewide association. Now they face new issues.

President Curtis Cummings, Eberhard Roofing, said that OSHA issues and construction defects will be the main focus of the association’s lobbying efforts in the fall.

"The insurance companies will pass the costs on to us and we’ll have to pass it on to consumers," Cummings said.

In Reno and other northern Nevada cities, OSHA inspectors have not been following set criteria while doing inspections. Fall protection that is considered safe on one job will be cited on another. The roofers feel that the rules need to be defined equally by all concerned and are working with OSHA on the problem.

"On the defect issue, there’s a real need for everyone to get involved," Paxson said. "This is going to affect everybody’s business."

In other business, the roofers heard about prevailing wage rules and how to use them to provide benefits for employees. Mary Jane Weber of Morgan & Franz Insurance spoke on the issue, and provided hand-outs for the contractors to take with them.

Roofing Contractors Association of Nevada

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