Columns

Letters To The Editor ― January 2009

Tom Warner retires

Safety lessons

Blog comments

As We Approach Our 25th Anniversary

Editor’s note: We received an e-mail last month from Tom Warner asking when our first issue came out. Tom’s e-mail was timely since we’ll be publishing our 25th anniversary issue in March. Tom retired in November and is currently writing his memoirs. He e-mailed us back what he plans to say about PM.)

Plumbing & Mechanical

Thomas F. Warner

Safety First

I was reading this month’s issue of PM magazine when I read the article named “Protecting The ‘Industrial Athlete’”(October 2008). This is of particular interest to me and my company, ATM Plumbing. We are about 9 months old, and though we are young, and I say this with a heavy heart, we have unfortunately joined a fraternity of companies that have had an employee killed while on the job.

We had a young man, Mark, 31, electrocuted while cutting a 3/4-inch copper main water line, and, yes, that is all he did. Being a young upstart company, we figured we would have time to put together a company safety program and relied on the few employees we have to use judgment and always think safety.

Unfortunately what happened to Mark would have happened to anyone, and all I can say is that there was no electrical anything within at least 7-plus feet of him. Since then we have been putting together a safety program and moving forward - not an easy task by any means.

From a safety standpoint, we now require our plumbers to check all water lines before they do anything. Why? We want to make sure the line is not energized. The targeted area would be homes and businesses of any age, period. I would like to see other companies initiate programs such as this to prevent or at least attempt to prevent this from happening ever again. Any information any readers have would be appreciated. In 15-plus years in the plumbing industry, I have never heard of anything like this happening, and I wish I never had.

Tom Pesco
ATM Plumbing
Olathe, Kan.

Insurance And Sprinklers

There are two excellent articles on residential fire sprinkler systems in the November issue. Per these articles, this might be just what the plumbing trade needs as to more volume of work during this tight time. But forget the trade - the life-saving, property-saving capabilities far outweigh work for the trade.

However, in my many years in this business, often the work of fire sprinklers has come up. In questioning our insurance carriers here in Pennsylvania, we were always told our insurance does not classify us for doing this work.

To the insurance industry, it is the liability from premature discharge and the resulting flooding. When the classification changes, the rate changes and all the work will have to be insured at that rate, both for liability and workman’s compensation.

Now that this new requirement is mandated beginning Jan. 1, 2011, we as a trade had better find out what the ramification are for both standalone and multipurpose systems.

Bill Parr
Parr’s Plumbing
Allentown, Pa.