Choosing The Right HVAC Contractor

Equipment installations have some inherent risks which can lead to potential liability. This is why choosing the right contractor is crucial to ensuring the safe installation of your building’s mechanical system. While selecting an uninsured and unlicensed individual to perform the job may save you money upfront, in the long run, it may cost you thousands of dollars and leave you with 100% of the liability. Therefore, it is essential that you hire a contractor who adheres to Ontario’s Occupational Health and Safety Act and the Technical Standards and Safety Act.

The Role of a Contractor

There are many factors that can go wrong on a job site, and ultimately any issues that arise become the responsibility of the contractor. A contractor is the “person who carries on, in whole or in part, the business of installing, removing, repairing, altering or servicing appliances, and includes a person or an agent of the person who agrees to install, remove, repair, alter or service appliances sold or leased by the person.”³ If you don’t hire a licensed and insured general contractor to install your equipment, then YOU could be deemed to be the general contractor. If there’s an explosion to your gas line, or a slip and fall resulting in injury, you’re responsible.

Another important role on site is that of the constructor, “a person who undertakes a project for an owner and includes an owner who undertakes all or part of a project by himself or by more than one employer” and holds the greatest degree of control over the health and safety of a project and its workers⁴.

The site constructor must ensure workers are in compliance with the Occupational Health and Safety Act, including:

• notification of a project to the Ministry of Labour, when and as required;
• notification of an accident or occurrence to the Ministry of Labour, when and as required;
• ensuring every contractor or subcontractor receives a list of all designated substances present at the project before the prospective contractor or subcontractor enters into a binding contract for the supply of work on the project;
• ensuring written emergency procedures are established for the project and posted, and
• appointing a supervisor for every project at which five or more workers will work at the same time.

If you hire a contractor you may inadvertently face liability as a constructor should you contract with more than one employer (contractor) or use your own workers to carry out parts of the project, such as the additional hiring of an electrician or other tradesmen. For violations and accidents involving subcontractors and their employee’s, constructors may face fines up to $500,000 under Ontario’s Occupational Health and Safety Act⁵.