Trent Cotney, PA, Cotney Construction Law
Now that we’re in 2018, it’s time for employers to review their workplace policies to make changes to current policies, as well as implement new ones. Cell phone policies are one of the newer and most important policies you can have as an employer. With the proliferation of smart phones and social media, workers are becoming more and more focused on their phones and not the task at hand. This can create major problems for employers in the construction industry who are responsible for the safety of their employees. Further, rampant cell phone use while on the job creates inefficiencies and can cause delays to the entire project,
potentially costing employers thousands of dollars. This article will briefly discuss a number of different aspects you need to include in your cell phone policy.
As mentioned, it is the age of the smart phone and with that comes a number of new challenges for employers. It is important to have a cell phone policy because of the risk of employees neglecting work duties while using their cell phone for personal matters
and the potential for liability for accidents occurring while employees are using their phones on the job. It is easy to imagine an employee scrolling through their social media applications on their phone while walking through a job site and walking into a hazardous situation causing injury to themselves or other workers.
To avoid accidents and injuries, you need to have a cell phone policy that prohibits personal cell phone use while on the job site, except during break or lunch times. Of course, emergencies will arise that employees need to respond to immediately. In these instances, it is important to ensure your cell phone policy requires the employee to find a safe location to handle the emergency,
away from hazardous areas.
Another extremely important aspect of cell phone usage is prohibiting it while driving. This is important not only when the employee is driving a company vehicle, but also when they are traveling to and from the worksite. In order to prevent accidents while on the road, you should include a requirement in your cell phone policy that personal cell phones are to be kept on silent while on the road to free the driver/employee from being distracted by a call, text message, or notification (assuming blue tooth is not available).
Further, in many areas, texting and driving is illegal. It is a good idea to have a policy stating that the employee is responsible for any traffic violations resulting from use of their cell phone while driving. Employees need to be aware that violations of any of these cell phone policies will be subject to discipline, including termination.
The foregoing examples assume use of a personal cell phone, but what if it is a company-issued cell phone? There may be exemptions for the use of safety applications for taking photographs of job sites or relaying information to the home office. The key is making sure that any cell phone usage complies with the company’s safety policy to prevent accidents. In addition, the cell phone policy should tie into other employee manual policies preventing the dissemination of customer lists, proprietary information, or communications that may harm the reputation or image of the company. Finally, the policy should contemplate the return of the
company-issued cell phone in the event of employee termination.
As this article has made clear, cell phones are no small matter when it comes to workplace safety, especially in the construction industry. Not only should your company have a strong cell phone policy, but you need to make sure that it is up to date and considers all of the possible side effects that come with distracted employees.
Author’s note: The information contained in this article is for general educational information only. This information does not constitute legal advice, is not intended to constitute legal advice, nor should it be relied upon as legal advice for your specific factual pattern or situation.
Trent Cotney is an advocate for the roofing industry, General Counsel of FRSA, RT3, WCRCA, and PBCRSMA, and a Florida Bar Board Certified Construction Lawyer. For more information, contact the author at 866-303-5868 or go to www.CotneyCL.com.
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