Sign installation can be quite a risky process involving using of heavy equipment and working on very serious heights in high traffic areas such as streets and malls. The accidents are always possible especially if you are hiring an amateur sign installer with proper training, certification and insurance.
Too few people realize that in most cases it is not the sign installer who is responsible for possible damage or injuries that can happen. If a hiring company doesn’t take all precautions – all the responsibility will be on it. Think about it twice. No one wants a possible thousands of dollars lawsuit or Ministry of Labour tickets for hiring an unprofessional guy who calls himself a sign installer.
Let’s take a simple example. You are a sign company owner and you are hiring a guy from the street to hang up a banner at a store at one of the Toronto malls. It is a comparatively easy job and you have no back thoughts. He goes there in the daytime as the mall administration won’t allow a person without liability insurance and WSIB to work on premises after hours. While trying to install a banner 18’ above the ground the ladder slides, the guy falls down breaking a window, cuts himself, breaks his leg and injures a store customer.
As a result not the installer is responsible for this. The sign company gets everything:
- You are paying multiple Ministry of Labour fines for having your worker (the guy is considered your worker if you don’t have a contract and he is doing a job for you) violated several rules and laws regarding working at heights over 10’. Those tickets can be tenths of thousands dollars.
- You are responsible for the mall’s property damage and the installer has no liability insurance to cover this.
- You are responsible for both the installer’s and customer’s injuries.
-You are responsible in front of your customer for the store’s job disruption.
