PROTECTION IS KEY

Ihad climbed up the pulldown stair into the attic of a sprawling 1970s ranch residential structure.

This was the type of attic that had board flooring and clearly had been used for storage and coat hanging (so glad we don’t do this anymore… mostly). I had crouch-walked to one gable end, turned around, and was crouch-walking back. You know, doing my inspection thing.

Along one side of the attic access was a large masonry chimney. Along the other side was an old gas furnace that was still in use. As I was making my way between the chimney and gas furnace toward the other gable wall, I had to step over the attic pull-down opening/frame. Mindful of the opening, I took a larger step to clear the frame and transition onto a section of board platform. Unfortunately, that section turned out to be unsecured.

Losing my balance, I fell out from the attic, landing upside down on one shoulder 2/3 down the pull-down stairs. My left forearm “caught” several tread edges and helped slow my free fall, leaving me with a deep scrape that would become a scar. My pants caught on a spring and tore from ankle-to-arse. My left shoulder was all jacked up. It took me more than two years to get my shoulder back to a point where I could fully lift it overhead and put weight on it (I’m an avid CrossFitter, so this is a vitally important position for performing snatches, let alone putting on a sweater). I never went to the hospital. My wife had to bring me a new pair of pants. I was very hurt, scared, and scarred. Oh, and the owner (it was a prelisting inspection) was home, so I was quite embarrassed, too. Our industry is dangerous. We all know the environments in which we place ourselves, many without full or proper protection. Most of us can’t afford insurance and so we hope our partner/family can somehow support us. If you are like me, that isn’t the case. And yet, clients, real estate agents, and builders expect us via price shopping to perform our trade at nominal cost—because $300 for 3 hours of work will pay for lung disease, lock jaw (seriously, stay up on your tetanus shots folks), broken heels (I have an acquaintance who fell off his ladder, landed on his heel, and shattered it), infections, and possibly pest bites.

According to the most recent data published by the United States Census Bureau, private health insurance accounted for roughly 66 percent of the market in 2021, but direct purchase coverage accounted only for 10.2 percent of that. Most of us, as small business owners (there are some larger entities out there that don’t fall into this category), fall under direct purchase coverage. Astoundingly, full-time workers were more likely to be uninsured in 2021— again, this encompasses a pretty large percentage of our industry professionals.

My family pays for a highdeductible plan because it’s the best we can do. As a business owner, the numbers almost immediately disclude my household from governmental subsidies that would make decent insurance coverage sustainable. I pay more out-of-pocket directly to physicians than through insurance—the rate for cash payment often is better than running it through the highdeductible insurance policy that still leaves my household on the hook for the negotiated rate between physician and insurer.

So, why is it that an industry predicated on service, with sometimes eerily high liabilities, and drowning in a market motivated by vendor sales for ancillary service equipment, we haven’t managed to find a way to offer decent health insurance plans within our industry? We have two main associations with numbers large enough that proper discounts ought to be leverageable—yet there really is nothing out there of great enough substance.

My advice to all—cover your skin when you are outside, and within attics and crawlspaces. Protect your eyes when you are performing electrical panel reviews (arc flashes = melting skin and eyes), as well as when you are in attics and crawlspaces. And don’t forget your lungs.

A N95-type mask does NOT cut it. Think of it like this—add up all the minutes over one year in which you find yourself in attic spaces. Now, quantify that in liters of air inhaled (an assumed average is 7 to 8 liters of air per minute—possibly more when we’re huffing and puffing through a limited-clearance attic). Same thing for crawlspaces and basements in poor conditions.

Also, add in general air quality of some of the homes (VOCs, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, formaldehyde, and radon). Do you know how much poor air quality and air pollutants we as inspectors introduce into our bodies each year?

Currently, we have nowhere to turn at our career’s end when we develop adverse health conditions—no one we can sue, no one who wants to help us financially. I think our industry needs to constantly be having a conversation pertaining to our health and longevity—is your most profitable year worth your life?