Should fall protection equipment distribution companies have
a responsibility to their clients to ask the question “What are you doing with
this stuff”?
I recently walked a project and the client asked if I could
take a quick look at the “Fall Protection System” that they already had
installed on their roof. We headed up to the roof where I saw an improperly
installed system with various incompatible devices, and worst of all, a system
which inhibited employees from performing a necessary job at the roof’s edge; the
system required a user to link a 6’ lanyard to a self-retracting lifeline in
order to get them to the roof’s edge. My client had no idea there were problems,
nor what they were, and the company he bought from certainly had no problem in
turning a profit and then washing their hands clean of responsibility – which is fine if your company sells tee
shirts, but not fall protection equipment.
The problem starts when you call a distributor that sells.
“Fall protection? Sure!” They grab their catalog, find part numbers, contact
their inside sales person and order the equipment for their new “Client” a.k.a.
$$$. The whole time they never ask what you’re doing with this stuff, nor how
it will be used.
At www.versatilefallprotection.com
we always ask prospective clients about their intent because we care. These
questions unlock safer, easier, and more cost effective solutions. Questioning
is not a challenge of prospective client knowledge, it’s about ensuring that
our clients get a safe cost effective solution.
Back on the roof, thousands of dollars of unusable equipment
lay scattered around without a decipherable plan. The catalog company that the
equipment was purchased from may have had the cheapest price, but the cost of
removing and reinstalling an adequate fall protection system totals as much as double
what our client would have paid if they had gone to an expert from the start.
At Versatile Systems, Inc., the key is to provide as much
value to a customer as physically possible. Unfortunately, some companies don’t
believe that, for some companies it’s about “I” not “You”. Value lies not just
in the cheapest price but also the service that comes with it. There will
always be companies who “sell” without responsibility and as long as they’re
operating, Versatile Systems, Inc. will clean up their mess because of our
belief in responsibility. At the end of the day, a company should ask a client
the who, what, where, and whys, but some may never do.
John McHugh
Versatile Fall Protection
(818) 565-5551
