How Pennsylvania and many other states Courts Allow for Slip and Fall and other Fraudulent court cases to Flourish

 So it happened to me an Office Building I Take care of in  county   over from me an Employee claims Emergency Light came down and Seriously Hit them .

OK I know from start its a fraudulent case no way it could hit them would have to be standing directly under it not very likely.

Unfortunately no cameras in place but after this happened owner has cameras everywhere and all the little Horse Shit things like lights and signs getting bumped  that where going on in the building stopped inst that strange.

So I call my Insurance company  and Claims adjuster calls me agrees sounds fishy says Lawyer that specialize in these cases will be in touch.

So get a call meet with attorney give him all the information tells me if he was a layer being asked by supposed injured person to file a claim he would not have taken it unfortunately plenty of sleazy lwyers would .

That's when he tells me how these con Artists and Criminals get away with Slip and Fall  

They file a claim in Pa. case under $25,000.00 dollars so it is heard by an Arbitration Board Court which is 3 lawyers who hear testimony and decide cases . 

There is no  voice or written recording of witnesses or Depositions of , plaintiffs or defendants  etc. So witnesses can not be charge with perjury as they would in Pa Common Pleas Court.

So they can go before the arbitrators who have to believe who is most telling the truth and often times award small amounts $2500.00 to $5000.00 . regardless if case is fraudulent or not.

So these fraudulent cases persist because sleazy attorneys take the cases knowing they are going to put at least $1500.00 in their pocket for filing some paper work because most insurance company would just rather pay off than fight it in court. 

Now these con artists know they can file numerous cases and get away with it seldom are they ever prosecuted which is a dam shame.and all it does is jack up cost of insurance.

and the cost to you the consumer. 

 

Slob Contractors put young athletes lives at risk by not capping Natural Gas Line as required by Plumbing Code and properly securing Score Board

 A customer of mine  is leasing an old  Industrial Quonset Hut  which was part of large company that made industrial grade buffing wheels and compounds near Pittsburgh .

He has converted it into a Basketball Training Facility

He went with the contractor the landlord recommended because he has used them in the past big mistake.

It has been one problem after another due to incomplete shoddy work . Door Frames not properly installed and leaking air and wobbling etc etc etc. just bad craftsmanship everything they touched

Well one of the biggest and most reprehensible items they did is when they removed an old Gas Space Heater in the men's room  .

Instead of unscrewing the pipe to it and capping or plugging  it they cut it off with a Sawzall and left pipe open.

So when the young people who come into play and learn Basketball Skills  could set off an explosion by accidentally having a loose ball hit the ball valve and leak gas into the facility. Which was hidden under the thin  Insulation sheet .

Plumbing Codes all require unused ends of pipes to be plugged or capped for this exact reason and had the county Health Inspector come on site and found this it could have resulted in a $15,000.00 fine to the contractor .

To make matters worse the Ohio State contractor who came in to install the high tech plastic Flooring and Score Board never prepped floor properly  and hung a 300 pound score board using dollar store Carbiner's .

and failed to properly torque the backboard on the hoops and one has already broken.

and violated every OSHA law while working like not using rails on scaffolding or safety harnesses .

 Just total complete slobs always in a hurray to run to the next job never caring about quality because they don't have to see it everyday and never have to come back. 

I often get stuck fixing things these slobs have done the customer pays me to fix it then goes after the slob and often has a hard time getting a rebate or otherwise compensated. 

and often these general contractors just like the flooring company all use sub contractors so finding and tracking them down and making them responsible is often hard.

Major Recall of Edwards 135 Degree Rate of Rise Heat detectors made since 1979

Yes hard to believe but the CPSC  Consumer Products Safety Commission has recalled 85,000 I know number has to be way more more like 850,000 135 Degree Rate of Rise Heat detectors made by the Edwards Company which goes all the way back to 1979  back to almost when I started my business.

https://www.cpsc.gov/Recalls/2020/edwards-recalls-mechanical-heat-detectors-due-to-failure-to-alert-to-fire

They are used in areas like garages and crawlspaces and elevator shafts etc. where a smoke detector would cause false alarms. there pretty simple as far as how they work they trigger and melt off at 135 degrees of heat or  15 Degree temperature change in 5 minutes time and that's the problem the rate of rise unit fails to operate.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_detector

This recall goes for all these detectors back to 1979 but Edwards will only pay for and replace units made after  2014

https://www.edwardsfiresafety.com/Content/Documents/Edwards%20280%20Series%20Mechanical%20Heat%20Detector%20CPSC%20Safety%20Notice%20-%20%2020140.pdf

Of course I have questions because there was also a separate company at one time  had products from Edwards and where relabeled and  called API Products?   in 1980s are those recalled also?  Does CPSC even know about those relabeled heats ?

Edwards made for several company's.  I put up a couple hundred of these old heats and I am tracking them down  and replacing them .  I switched over to System Sensor in the 90s s which is a far superior product in my opinion .

But this is not first time heat Detectors have been recalled back in 90s a company called Chemetronics which appears to be out of business had several recalls . One of which I alerted CPSC to as 601 detectors screw terminals would pop off and give no indication detector was not working. 

Thou very simple design  these units play an important part of a total fire protection system. > Especially in areas smoke detectors can not be used.

Novelty Flashlight that runs on Water Poses Potential Danger to its users if not careful around open flames

Imagine your out in a remote location camping at your favorite cabin  and your lights go out you reach for a flashlight and its batteries and its dead now what ?

Well " As Seen on TV" has the answer a flashlight that runs on Water.

and yes it actually works using water by means of a fuel cell.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_cell

But with one Big Caution listed in small print under Warnings   do not expose to open flames .

This is because the flashlight produces hydrogen   and you have a object in your hands which could explode if put near flames.

So while it can be an excellent life saver and great back up for survival situations as it can sit in its wrapper and be good for 25 years it can also be very dangerous if misused. this is definitely a flashlight you do not want around your kids.

As Far as performance not very bright more like older style glass bulb flashlights but it is defiantly enough to complete a task if you need one. and yes it can last up to 100 hours 3 times till you need to replace the fuel cell .

Definitely something to have around for an emergency but use with caution .

So what are these Covid 19 Protection Plan signs in Construction Zones?

If you travel thru any Construction zone lately you will see an orange sign like the one below which is outside a rented 2nd floor office for a contractor doing work on Boulevard of Allies project in Pittsburgh

They say Covid 19 protection plan in Effect

Which is a good thing.

NIOSH and OSHA have developed plans to protect our worksites
 

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/organizations/construction-workers.html?deliveryName=FCP_2_USCDC_10_4-DM29003

First the sign lets the public know that roadside workers are taking precautions to protect themselves and public from Covid 19 but it also tells any potential employee ,supplier or contractor coming on site  that the site is safe and they need to take precautions which includes seeing the  Covid Safety Officer upon arriving so they are aware of what precautions they must take under the covid 19 plan .

As our workforce is getting older and grayer they must take precautions to protect their health  and proudly I can say from personnel experience many are taking better care to keep work sites sanitary than the have in the past.

Rethinking Magnetically Held Open Fire Doors are they a Solution or a Problem ? Take a look at a recent situation I witnessed when the power went out.

Magnetically or Mechanically held open doors have been around almost as long or in some cases longer than fire protection systems have been around.

They can be a very good way to prevent Fire doors from being blocked open with objects  and preventing there closing when there is a fire .

There is either a very simple magnet  or solenoid set up behind door to hold it and then release it when fire alarm or power goes out door drops closed

https://www.beaconcdl.com/basics-of-commercial-door-holders/

 A Mechanical door holder uses a Thermal Link  which went it melts drops the door closed or similar arrangement either arrangement works well and does it job  

with mechanical links being used mainly on big Roll up and Sliding doors in commercial and Industrial Buildings but I have seen them used on single man doors .

So ran across an interesting situation which could be catastrophic  if emergency lighting is not properly maintained in a building  and fails to come on when there is a fire. 

A customer of mine has a 3 story Office Building I maintain for him and power had been  out all day 

and at that point battery's in emergency lights which are designed for 90 minutes had drained .

the hall ways have no windows so there is little to no light available .

I took a flashlight with me as I went in to check building but unknown to me a mailman had come in front door was delivering mail to offices and got himself trapped in the 2nd floor hall when exit door inadvertently closed behind him and he was in total blackness. He could not find the door.  luckily he did not panic and yelled for help and found him. 

OK so here we have the door with magnet holding it to the left

OK here is the door now closed if your where in this building and power went off or Fire Alarm  and Emergency Lights failed to come on for what ever reason could you find your way out even if you knew this building ?

I could because i do not panic easily and would feel around till I found the door but precious minutes would be lost especially a hall filling with smoke.

This code section has never ever really been looked at or addressed by code since first ut in code  and thou doors could be held by battery for small time if code is properly meet  if battery's in lights have not been changed guarantee door battery's are dead too.

The other answer is Melting link but by time fire gets that hot it usually too late to save building and big issue is stopping smoke spread.

There has got to be a better answer