NEW England HVAC Insider Guest Column Walk Away! By Christopher F. Hawthorne CPCU, CRIS, CIC, LIA

A rule of thumb in determining general liability is that the last person to touch the project can own the liability. This can be quite unfair but we do see it often. During the day to day activity certain simple common sense rules are easy to lose sight of, especially when the push for higher sales and receipts has never been stronger. It is worth discussing with your employees the issue of “once you touch a job you own it” in many ways, and in particular, liability wise. Recently a client went into a job and although the piping was very old and looked ready to fall apart, the contractor tried to help the client with the particular problem at hand. Later on, the system failed and guess who owned the ensuing damage claim? Employees need to understand their role as your eyes and ears in the field. If the project or work looks shaky or the job owner is telling you about prior horror stories, the employee should question whether you want to be a chapter in that story. Story continues below ↓ advertisement | your ad here

Coach your employees on how they should handle a situation where they think they have walked into to a trap. What do you expect them to do? Discuss having the employee document exactly what happened in these situations and what actions they did or did not take and what was said to the job owner. Consider following up writing with job owner that you refused the job due reasons of _____. While the above is common sense it is a great idea to revisit it periodically and with all new employees. Every great sales person knows that saying no to bad work is the key to success! In the case of a contractor it is also the key to freedom from unneeded liability. Communicating with your employees will go along way towards helping them to think about it and empowering them to act on what they observe.  I hope this is helpful. ?  Chris Hawthorne has represented Thomas Gregory Associates and has specialized in working with contractors since 1995 for their insurance and risk management. Chris can be reached at 781-914- 1038. If you have questions or have issues you would like addressed in future articles or wish to find prior articles, please contact Chris at 781-914- 1038 or chawthorne@ thomasgregory.com.                                                                                        ###