ALLOWING TRADES PEOPLE ON YOUR PROPERTY & IN YOUR HOME
Times have changed. And so have laws, insurance, & obligations with respect to giving a paid worker access to your property, home, valuables, personal information and the security of your loved ones. Areas of concern include:
– An injury to a worker at your home
– Disappearance of Valuables
– Identity Theft
– A Threat to family members and/or pets
– Failure to keep property secured by worker
In January of 2014, legislation came into effect in Ontario that defined even your private residence as a ‘workplace’ if you were paying a contractor to do work there for you. So, how does this affect you? The Workplace Safety & Insurance Board (WSIB) must be involved and premiums must be paid. Failure to do so puts the parties in contravention of the law.
The BIG RISK lies in what happens in the event of an injury (such as a tumble down a flight of stairs), which leaves the worker in a long term disabled condition. If you have a company that is not insured or does not have a current valid WSIB certificate, then you are exposed to the possibility of a civil lawsuit by the worker and your personal home insurance may deny your claim. Some of these settlements have run into several hundreds of thousands of $$$$, potentially wiping out the homeowner’s assets.
It is important to only allow workers who have proof of WSIB coverage onto your property.
