Safty advice

[TomK]

Just a word of caution about giving advice under the safety thread or anywhere else for that matter. According to Business Law, if someone relies on that advice and gets hurt or has a loss. They can hold the person that gave the advice liable. Giving advice can be interpreted as holding oneself out as an expert. So any post that does not include a statement to engage the local building inspector, fire marshall, fire underwriter or at least follow the local building codes, can result in a liability lawsuit. So please, if you post, make sure you state that the final authority is the local building code/enforcement/underwriters etc.

The best example I can think of is Dale. He is very conscientious about pointing to code when he posts advice.

To Dale, A huge THANK YOU for all the time and effort you have given to the community over the years, it is greatly appreciated.

[swamper]

Yes, bravo.

[JEK3]

Good advice in today's litigious society.

So, what's the liability risk if I were to state something to the effect of: "This is what I do, but I'm pretty sure it's not to code"?

[TomK]

Well, if someone choose to follow your "this is what I do" I can not say what the risk to you is regarding them suing you. I do know if you had a problem at your place and the insurance company investigated enough to find your statement. They might have grounds to not pay since you were "pretty sure it's not to code"

I am not a lawyer, what I posted was from 2 business law classes. We did have a couple cases that we reviewed where someone relied on the advice of another thinking they were an expert and won against the "expert". So I do know that the safe, smart thing to do is to recommend following code.