Liability for harness tie off
Liability for harness tie off
(OP)
A glazier has asked me to provide structural calculations for a concrete anchor bolt use to tie off his harnesses which he will use in multiple locations on a skyscraper during glass replacement. They do the replacement from the inside of the building, and the anchor bolt will hopefully never see load.
Is this a high liability assignment? Would I be named in the lawsuit if there was an accident unrelated to the anchor failing ? Or is this more like designing a catwalk for an industrial plant?
Is this a high liability assignment? Would I be named in the lawsuit if there was an accident unrelated to the anchor failing ? Or is this more like designing a catwalk for an industrial plant?





RE: Liability for harness tie off
Yes.
No.
RE: Liability for harness tie off
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RE: Liability for harness tie off
RE: Liability for harness tie off
I have a PE, btw.[/sup]
RE: Liability for harness tie off
RE: Liability for harness tie off
RE: Liability for harness tie off
RE: Liability for harness tie off
My rule of thumb is that if anything happens, innocent parties have to spend $50k to extract themselves in legal fees and settlements. If its got a 1% chance of occurring, my risk premium is $500, which doesn't seem too bad.
If this were a condo, the chance of the lawsuit would be probably more like 20%.
RE: Liability for harness tie off
But never a condo.
RE: Liability for harness tie off
RE: Liability for harness tie off
The wood construction, including deterioration of any ltwt. conc. floor topping, is a ticking time bomb.
RE: Liability for harness tie off
RE: Liability for harness tie off
What you asked is a very high liability issue because its failure would result in a personal injury. When you're dealing with property damage, it's only money. When you're dealing with a person's life, it takes on a whole new meaning.
As for liability....your fee level has no relationship to the liability to which you'll be exposed. It doesn't make any difference if your fee is $1000 or $100,000....your exposure can be in the millions on either.
Exposure does not necessarily equate to liability. We are always exposed, but our true liability often depends on our diligence or lack thereof. When we write proposals and reports, the intent is to limit our exposure.....try not to get invited to the party....the one the lawyers are attending. If you have true liability, they'll find you anyway.
RE: Liability for harness tie off
There must be some level of fee that would cover the weighted risks involved. The risk is not infinite.
RE: Liability for harness tie off
Wood is very common here for condos, the low rise kind at least. Plywood alone may result in bouncy floors, and soft spots, even with 1-1/8". So the common practice is to top w/ 1.5" gypcrete or ltwt conc, then that is nightmare if it wasn't done right, years later.
RE: Liability for harness tie off
One example was the hotel under construction, spindly barely-adequate pipe column, steel beam, builder stupidly started placing Dycore only on one side of the beam, column wasn't braced, then a construction worker below was crushed to death.
RE: Liability for harness tie off
RE: Liability for harness tie off
RE: Liability for harness tie off
RE: Liability for harness tie off
La Fonda
http://www.lafondasantafe.com/accommodation/
RE: Liability for harness tie off
RE: Liability for harness tie off
RE: Liability for harness tie off
RE: Liability for harness tie off
Tract is only about 10% of my biz anyway.
Back when I did wood condo and multi-family (I was an employee), it took 6 months for the daily revisions to stop. That left me burned out to the point I couldn't do that stuff anymore. The construction methods were not as shabby as tract, but it took 6 months to finish every project, and I like to get things done with less revisions and confusion.
RE: Liability for harness tie off
I have a client who wants to build a structural glass slippery slide on the outside of a skyscraper right on top of a seismic fault, from the 70th floor down to the 69th floor . Basically a big glass tube. Cost is no object. What could possibly go wrong?
RE: Liability for harness tie off
I did work on the Stratosphere Tower in LV that made me very nervous, but am glad I survived that.
RE: Liability for harness tie off
The roller coaster thing on the top of the Stratosphere tower is a similar concept.
RE: Liability for harness tie off
I do have a slightly funny story about the "Stupak Tower" and a few not so funny.
RE: Liability for harness tie off
What do they want to hang? a swing stage or just a bosun chair? I would over engineer the hell out of it, with backup supports should one fail for whatever reason. Tell them your going to need a big chunk of change to pay to up your insurance- this scope of work carries high liability. Inspect the installation, and stipulate that once the work is complete, the anchors must be removed.
Believe it or not, construction workers have been taking care of themselves for years, hanging swing stages and bosun chairs off the sides of buildings safely. They aren't just hopping on any shady line 300ft up. My guess is this request originated with the general contractor. Large contractors are so concerned with liability that the safety requirements on building construction sites have gotten ridiculous in recent years. I wouldn't be surprised if you give your client a bill, they'll pass it on to the general as an extra, and suddenly the glaziers won't need engineered supports anymore.
RE: Liability for harness tie off
RE: Liability for harness tie off
RE: Liability for harness tie off
Now i see a little more clearly what you've got going on. I had thought you needed an anchor to the roof, to hang over the side. You really just need an anchor for the guys working on the inside, in case they fall out the open hole.
I'm really not a fan of the idea of powder actuated fasteners into concrete. you never really know what the shape of the concrete is that you are nailing to. into steel would let me fall asleep a little easier. Still surprised this is the way they want to go about it... why not let the tradesmen figure out where to tie their harness ropes around the nearest sound spot? Classic case of a bunch of suits over complicating things. And they say us engineers have our heads in the sky...
RE: Liability for harness tie off
RE: Liability for harness tie off
@miningman. Thanks, good to hear what other folks are using. 5000lb is a lot, but I guess you don't want to mess with safety.
RE: Liability for harness tie off
5,000 lbs load per person for each anchor requirement. That is, one anchor per person, that anchor needs to be rated to 5000 lbs for aperson to tie off their harness to. So, find an interior wall for each room, drill through to the other side and bolt a backing plate on each side. The anchor bolt goes through the wall with a loop on each end for the tie off hook.
to prevent future liability (er, use) require the anchor bolts and plates be removed when done.
RE: Liability for harness tie off