You Refuse to Work You are a supervisor for ABC Construction Company and you are managing the construction of a 4-story Ramada Inn Hotel. The roofing sub-contractor, who uses a large forklift to raise his employees to the roof, has a technical question about a satellite mount that is supposed to bolt to the roof. He wants you to be raised to the roof to look at the problem and discuss the situation. The forklift (Figure 1) is not designed to carry people. If you refuse to be lifted, the contractor will call your boss and the workers will call you a sissy. Progress on the hotel will come to a halt, probably for several days if you refuse. You decide to decline an invitation for a ride on the forklift and call a rental company for a man lift. Unfortunately, there are no man lifts available and you are again faced with being lifted by the forklift. Given that you continue to refuse, your boss is called and you are fired for stopping construction. Justify your answers using OSHA or other worker protection laws.
a. How can you defend your actions?
b. Can you get your job back?
c. What about reporting the “perceived” unsafe activities of the roofing sub-contractors? Was it your place to “whistle-blow” and turn them in to OSHA representatives?
d. Identify 5 OSHA Standards that apply to this scenario and provide the following information for each Standard.