Latest Contractors Headlines
All the headlines from our Contractors Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Travelers Partners with Contractor, Tech Firm on Wearables for Construction Safety
Nov 16 2018 // The Travelers Companies has partnered with contractor company Gilbane, and Triax Technologies, a provider of Internet of Things (IoT) construction technology, to explore the potential safety benefits of wearable...
Mass. Contractor Faces $311K in Penalties for Exposing Workers to Safety Hazards
Nov 15 2018 // Northeast Framing Inc., a contractor based in Lunenberg, Mass., has been cited by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) for exposing workers to falls and other hazards...
Texas Underground Tank Contractor Cited for Excavation Hazards
Nov 5 2018 // Federal workplace safety regulators have cited Texas-based UST Systems Inc. for trench safety violations after the company allowed its employees to enter an excavation site in Austin without proper protections or training...
Pressure’s on the Trucking Sector
Nov 5 2018 // The transportation industry is considered a barometer of the U.S. economy. If freight is trending up, so too is the U.S. economy. But capacity constraints for trucking – including a shortage of qualified drivers, low...
Ohio Supreme Court: Subcontractor’s Faulty Work Not Covered by Contractor’s Policy
Nov 5 2018 // The Ohio Supreme Court in early October ruled that a general contractor’s commercial general liability policy does not cover the faulty work of a subcontractor. In its consideration of Ohio N. Univ. v. Charles...
Investigators: Contractor Mismarked Gas Line Before Deadly Wisconsin Blast
Nov 2 2018 // A utility-location worker failed to properly mark a natural gas line in a Madison, Wisconsin, suburb this summer, leading to an explosion that leveled more than half a dozen buildings and killed a firefighter, according to...
Missouri Plumbing Contractor Admits to Safety Violations; Will Pay $225K Penalty
Nov 2 2018 // Arrow Plumbing LLC has admitted to willfully violating federal safety standards by failing to require and enforce the use of trench boxes or other trench protection techniques at a home construction site in Belton,...
Digital Carrier Next Insurance Launches General Contractor Coverage
Nov 2 2018 // Small business digital insurance carrier Next Insurance has launched a new general contractor insurance policy that includes general and professional liability insurance for general contractors entirely online. Next...
Florida Fraud Strike Team Targets Unlicensed Contractors in Panhandle
Oct 30 2018 // Three contractors conducting business in Leon, Gadsden, and Gulf counties have been removed from the Panhandle by the Florida Department of Financial Services’ Disaster Fraud Action Strike Team for unlicensed...
Ohio Supreme Court: Subcontractor’s Faulty Work Not Covered by Contractor’s Policy
Oct 29 2018 // The Ohio Supreme Court in early October ruled that a general contractor’s commercial general liability policy does not cover the faulty work of a subcontractor. In its consideration of Ohio N. Univ. v. Charles...
Regulators, Industry Seek to Keep Florida AOB Abuse In Check After Michael
Oct 18 2018 // Haley Nelson inspects damages to her family properties in the Panama City, Fla., spring field area after Hurricane Michael made landfall in Florida’s Panhandle on Wednesday, Oct. 10, 2018. (Pedro Portal/Miami Herald...
Louisiana Contractor Awarded $62M in Fertilizer Plant Lawsuit
Oct 17 2018 // A federal jury has awarded a Louisiana mechanical contractor hired to help build a fertilizer plant in southeast Iowa $62.4 million after concluding the fertilizer plant’s general contractor defaulted on a...
New York Contractor Pleads Guilty to $800K Business Fraud Scheme
Oct 15 2018 // State officials say an Albany-area contractor has pleaded guilty to scamming hundreds of thousands of dollars out of minority-owned businesses and failing to pay dozens of his employees. Attorney General Barbara Underwood...
Time to Revisit Independent Contractor vs. Employed Producer Status
Oct 15 2018 // Insurance agencies across the country hire some or all producers as independent contractors instead of as employees. The mixed use of employees and independent contractors in insurance is common in other industries as...
Woes of California Wildfire Victims Include Cleanup Crews, Fraud
Oct 11 2018 // One year after a devastating series of wildfires ripped through Northern California wine country, destroying thousands of homes, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ first experience cleaning up after a wildfire has...
Florida Activates Disaster Fraud Teams Ahead of Hurricane Michael
Oct 8 2018 // The Florida Department of Financial Services Disaster Fraud Action Strike Team (DFAST) has been activated ahead of what is expected to become Hurricane Michael and will be deployed in the affected areas to protect...
Minnesota Charges Contractor with Workers’ Comp Fraud, Labor Trafficking
Sep 26 2018 // A Minnesota construction contractor has been charged with labor trafficking, insurance fraud and theft by swindle for using undocumented workers on his construction crews and threatening to have them deported unless they...
Jury: Galveston Must Pay Nearly $15M to Contractor in Ike Housing Dispute
Sep 26 2018 // Southeast Texas city has been ordered to pay nearly $15 million to a fired contractor that was overseeing some federally funded housing recovery after Hurricane Ike hit in 2008. The Galveston County Daily News reports...
Decision in Uber Employee vs. Contractor Suit Cuts Driver Bargaining Power
Sep 25 2018 // Uber drivers seeking pay and benefits like those employees get were handed a big defeat by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday. A panel of court justices ruled that drivers must go through arbitration and could not...
OSHA Fines Contractors $86K Over Miami Bridge Collapse
Sep 20 2018 // Contractors that worked on the bridge near a Florida university that collapsed, killing six people, have been fined more than $86,000 for workplace violations. The Miami Herald reported Tuesday that the Occupational Safety...
