Safety first.

Let's be careful out there.

That was the bottom line of the National Demolition Association's 11th Annual Safety Summit, held in late October near Chicago. Nearly 100 people participated in the two-day summit that focused on increasing safe practices, improving demolition industry safety programs and dealing with the Occupation Safety & Health Administration (OSHA).

Mark Lies II, an attorney with the law firm Seyfarth Shaw, Chicago, offered information on employer liability. He said an employee performing an action that is against company policy and that the employer could not foresee often causes on-the-job accidents. Lies added, "Just because an accident happened doesn't mean there was an OSHA violation or that there should be a jury award."

Byron Atkins, who investigates accidents for Sunbelt Rentals Inc., an equipment rental chain based in Charlotte, N.C., provided tips to avoid trouble with common equipment. Lift baskets either modified or completely rebuilt by someone other than the OEM must be certified by a professional engineer or the OEM, or the employer could be liable in an accident, he said.

Operator's manuals should be kept with machines. They are the first thing OSHA inspectors will ask for in an accident investigation, in order to familiarize themselves with the equipment and to make sure the employee had access to the information, Atkins said.

For critics who say OSHA inspectors don't understand the demolition business, OSHA has begun a training program for its inspectors. Christine Pettiti of the OSHA Training Institute says the agency's program will show inspectors several concepts on demolition, including how voids are filled when a building comes down and the difference between demolition projects and disaster sites.

The next Safety Summit will be in the fall of 2005 in Baltimore.