Good way to m lose your business license if you aren’t a general contractor. But since they are, supervisor is getting fired and nothing else is going to change.
You’re absolutely right. However there were rules and amenities put in place way before we were born
I’ll give you an example. When I worked as a utility locator, I caught a GC’s team doing HARD drugs on a construction site. I reported it to the county. Nothing happened. Same team, same habits. I would speak to the GC directly about their teams, and they didn’t care.
A week passes and the entire site is roped off with police tape. A heavy machinery operator from that team ended up running a cleaner over in one of those JLG cherry pickers with the monster truck tires. Turns out he had meth and thc in his system. He was fired. No charges towards the individual or the GC because it was chalked up to a workplace accident.
Now why were they able to get away with that you ask? GC’s have to maintain state and county contracts and they even do work for the counties and states. They literally have all the power when it comes to construction. The only real way to get a GC shut down is if there are multiple accidents resulting in an unusual number of injuries or death. But even then, that’s usually when the feds and OSHA get involved
AND when they do get caught in something of that nature, they don’t really shut down. They change the company name under a new license and then magically get all the contracts that the previous company had
Not in Texas. Not anymore. They are actively making it so much worse with the recent bill removing a requirement that employers allow construction workers to drink fucking water.
Good way to m lose your business license if you aren’t a general contractor. But since they are, supervisor is getting fired and nothing else is going to change.
Working someone until they die of heatstroke should be a murder charge, not risk losing a damned business license. What a sick society.
You’re absolutely right. However there were rules and amenities put in place way before we were born
I’ll give you an example. When I worked as a utility locator, I caught a GC’s team doing HARD drugs on a construction site. I reported it to the county. Nothing happened. Same team, same habits. I would speak to the GC directly about their teams, and they didn’t care.
A week passes and the entire site is roped off with police tape. A heavy machinery operator from that team ended up running a cleaner over in one of those JLG cherry pickers with the monster truck tires. Turns out he had meth and thc in his system. He was fired. No charges towards the individual or the GC because it was chalked up to a workplace accident.
Now why were they able to get away with that you ask? GC’s have to maintain state and county contracts and they even do work for the counties and states. They literally have all the power when it comes to construction. The only real way to get a GC shut down is if there are multiple accidents resulting in an unusual number of injuries or death. But even then, that’s usually when the feds and OSHA get involved
Doesn’t hurt that the GCs will often just lose envelopes full of cash around where certain regulators, investigators, and politicians live.
It’s just by accident - those envelopes are just too damn easy to lose.
AND when they do get caught in something of that nature, they don’t really shut down. They change the company name under a new license and then magically get all the contracts that the previous company had
Also… is Texas.
I’m surprised they need licensing at all
You don’t actually have to be licensed to be a contractor in Texas.
Damn, and I thought I was being funny
Texas does a good enough job of it on its own.
Not in Texas. Not anymore. They are actively making it so much worse with the recent bill removing a requirement that employers allow construction workers to drink fucking water.