Do you put up CAUTION signs during an inspection ever?

[Nick Gromicko]

Perhaps when you open a crawlspace hatch in the floor? Do you ever put up red cones or safety tape or CAUTION signs or anything?

[Carl Pennick]

No, why do you ask?

[Nick Gromicko]

I have been supoenaed to testify in a case where a home inspector left the access hatch of a crawlspace door open and went down inside. The buyer came along and walked right into the hole. He broke his arm in several places. Big lawsuit.

I'm meeting with a CAUTION sign manufacturer in a few minutes and will have signs available for members to buy. I'll make the receipts indicate exactly what the signs are for. Save your receipt.

[Billy Boerner]

No but now I will. Thanks!

[Stephen L. Guardino, CMI]

We have to put them 500 feet before the opening with flashing red lights?

[relliott]

Sounds like a can of worms.

[John Harrison]

I am not sure about most locations in the US but being a former OSHA compliance officer for a manufacturing company.

Any access opening should be baracaded or marked as such. A watchman should be placed outside of the opening to keep communication with entrant and direct others away from the opening.

In Iowa OSHA has no authority over residential and small business. An OSHA officer cannot approach a roofing site and start issuing citations, but they can try to scare the hell out of the unsafe workers.

[Peter Doane]

Originally Posted by gromicko

I have been supoenaed to testify in a case where a home inspector left the access hatch of a crawlspace door open and went down inside. The buyer came along and walked right into the hole. He broke his arm in several places. Big lawsuit.

I'm meeting with a CAUTION sign manufacturer in a few minutes and will have signs available for members to buy. I'll make the receipts indicate exactly what the signs are for. Save your receipt.

Nick,
This case sounds a Little odd to me, usually a crawl space access is in a closet, was this one right smack dab in the middle of a hallway?? How do you just 'walk by' and fall in?

[Joe Funderburk, CMI]

Put hazard warning tape around the perimeter of the home!

[wsiegel]

whatever happened to watching where you are walking.

Ooops I forgot. This is America where no on is responsible for his own actions.

[Nick Gromicko]

We've all had clients who, to our surprise, followed us up a ladder. I'm thinking the sign should read "CAUTION, Inspector at Work, STAY BACK" That way the sign could be used for ladders, crawlspace openings, attics, etc.

[Brian C. Hoagland]

I tell my clients not to follow me up on the roof or enter the attic or crawlspace under any circumstances during the inspection as these areas have hidden hazards and I cannot be held responsible for their safety. I'm covered right? What about that electrical deadfront, it's OK to take that off in the beggining of the inspection and put it back on in the end isn't it. Oh, by the way is it my fault when mother mary brings her 8 kids to the inspection and one of them drowns in the pool that lacks the child protection fence, or does that only count after I got to that part of the inspection process?

I could go on...and on...and on.........No limit to liability.

[James H. Bushart]

I am sensing that this isolated and frivolous suit is hardly worth the trouble.

The seller, who owns the home, is responsible for injuries that occur on his property. Not the home inspector who lawfully opens the entrance to a crawlspace.

This suit equates to one suing the mailman who delivered the letter from which he received a paper cut.

Must I post a "Beware of Dog" sign if the neighbor's dog wanders into the yard and bites my client during an inspection. Must I first fumigate in the event that he should be bit by a spider as he peers into an empty closet that I opened?

For me to use caution tape is for me to assume such liability.

[Kevin M. Leonard]

Originally Posted by gromicko

"CAUTION, Inspector at Work, STAY BACK" .

Makes us sound dangerous.

[Bruce A. King]

Since most crawlspace doors on the exterior around here, I have always hoped that someone did not decide to close the door and slip the padlock on it while I was in the crawlspace.

I had one of those in a floor but the client watched me go in, actually he watched me do it two times while laughing the 2nd time as I went back in to look for my keys.

I think he cracked a rib or two laughing at me but did not sue me.