December 16, 2011
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Comments
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Ken
While I agree with your comments “ having the (sub) contractor named as an 'additional insured'. However, have you looked at the general contract agreements that the General Contractors shove down our throat if we want to do any work? They want us to name the General Contractor, Owner, Engineer(s), and Architect as additional insured on our policies, for everything and anything that does and/or may happen except for sole gross negligence.
David Deutsch
BILL'S SOUND & SECURITY
Costa Mesa, CA
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Hi Ken,
There is a provision in the NJ Uniform Construction Code (N.J.A.C. 5:23) that contractors should be aware of, especially alarm contractors who prepare documents, i.e. shop drawings, catalog cuts, calculations, etc. that are required and submitted for the purpose of obtaining permits. These provisions of the NJUCC clearly require the 'design professionalâ' to review such documents and stipulate compliance in writing to the local enforcing agency.
N.J.A.C. 5:23-2.15(f)xi.(1) 'All documents prepared by people other than the design professional shall be reviewed by the design professional and submitted with a letter indicating that they have been reviewed and found to be in conformance with the regulations for the design of the building.'
Hope this helps,
Sincerely,
John Drucker, CET
Fire Protection Subcode Official
Fire/Building/Electrical Inspector
Fire Marshals Office
Borough of Red Bank, NJ
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Ken,
In reply to Joel Kent, alarm dealers use your contracts to "contract away their negligence". This is the A&E industry doing the exact same thing. As a project specifier/designer, I am required to pass along enough information to a qualified bidder to allow him to design and build the project to specification. This is why we have mandatory pre-bid/site inspections, Q&A periods, etc. Although I have an excellent working knowledge of the systems I design, I'm human, I make mistakes sometimes. I might leave out a power supply, or not show a required connection. So the bidding contractor is responsible for assuring that my design is a workable system, and including in his bid anything I might not have shown. And although I have never heard of an A&E firm being asked to provide malpractice insurance, they do have to provide proof of general liability, post performance bonds, etc.
Thank you,
S. E. Burman
Command Technology Associates