Watch your step when hiring contractors

• Franco Roofing of Yonkers got a %2444%2C028 fine in 2014 for safety lapses at a Katonah home

With warmer weather prompting thoughts of home improvements, some due diligence can prevent lots of heartache.

Anyone considering a new roof, kitchen or bathroom should ask contractors about licenses, insurance and worker safety. Homeowners should also check with county consumer protection offices to verify licenses and ensure that a contractor doesn't have a checkered past.

Homeowners have good reason to be on guard. Between April 1, 2014 and April 1, 2015, the Rockland County Office of Consumer Protection cited 101 contractors for working without a valid license. Westchester County maintains a Renegade Renovators list on its website to warn homeowners about bad contractors who have lost their licenses or never had them.

As for safety, last year inspectors from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited 118 companies. Many of the safety violators were contractors, including Franco Roofing of Yonkers for its work at a private home in Katonah. Franco Roofing's violations earned the year's second biggest fine — $44,028.

OSHA holds employers, not homeowners, liable for worker safety violations. Still, it's important to ask about safety plans.

"If you're hiring a contractor, stay home on the first day. You should be able to tell what is dangerous," said Terrence Cortelli, an attorney in White Plains who handled a case for a worker who fell and fractured his pelvis and wrist at a Rye home after his boss didn't set up proper scaffolding.

Cortelli said every homeowner should ask a contractor to name them as an additional insured party in the company's insurance policy, and if the contractor won't show the homeowner a certificate verifying the addition, it's a red flag.

Mark Franzoso of Franzoso Contracting in Croton-on-Hudson said his company adds homeowners as an additional insured party, and the company runs safety training for its workers.

"That's something many homeowners do not take into consideration in choosing a quality contractor. They go right for the price and do not realize the jeopardy they're putting themselves in if something happens," said Franzoso.

Franzoso said another red flag is subcontractors with magnetic signs on their vehicles' doors.

"That's commonplace in our area. You want a company that has its own employees and trucks that are actually lettered to pull up to your job site. You don't want a van with a magnetic sign," said Franzoso. "If that particular person falls... you're tied to a three-way lawsuit: the homeowner, the contractor and the subcontractor."

Falls are a major cause of construction-related deaths, according to OSHA, whose most frequently cited violation in 2014 was fall protection.

OSHA cited Franco Roofing for 11 violations, including fall protection, improper worker training and head protection. Diana Cortez, OSHA's regional director in Tarrytown, said workers on roofs must use some kind of fall protection, which can include rails at the edges of the roofs or, more commonly, harnesses tethered to an anchor affixed to the top of the roof.

More than a third of the local companies cited by OSHA last year for violations were inspected after someone complained about working conditions.

"Employees are really learning what their rights are, and understanding what is a hazard, and to report it if their employer isn't rectifying it," said Cortez.

Rachael Risinger, a State Farm spokeswoman, said that in general homeowners are protected under most home insurance policies if something goes wrong, whether the contractor is licensed or not. The lack of a license would become an issue if the contractor or worker were to sue the homeowner for liability, she said.

The Insurance Information Institute, a trade group, said that a homeowner or the contractor should have at least $1 million in liability insurance before a project starts.

Twitter: @ErnieJourno

Top safety fines

Home improvement contractors were among the 118 local companies cited and fined for violations in 2014 by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's inspectors. The region's top 10 fines went to:

1. AMB Construction $113,300

2. Franco Roofing $44,028

3. MPCC Corp. $42,966

4. I&P Home Improvement Corp $15,600

5. Nua Construction Corp. $15,000

6. MPCC Corp. $14,000

7. Bridge Metal Industries $13,860

8. Robert's Gallery $13,600

9. E & W Group, Inc. $12,400

10. Northeast Landscape & Masonry Associates $12,400

Due dilligence

There are several government websites homeowners can visit to check a home improvement contractor's record. Those websites include consumer guidance, lawsuits, liens and judgments, as well as OSHA's establishment search page that documents safety violations.

• OSHA establishment search: https://www.osha.gov/pls/imis/establishment.html

• Putnam County consumer protection: http://www.putnamcountyny.com/consumer-affairs/

• Rockland County consumer protection: http://rocklandgov.com/departments/consumer-protection-weights-and-measures/

• Rockland County Clerk: http://www.rocklandcountyclerk.com/

• Westchester County consumer protection: http://consumer.westchestergov.com/

• Westchester County Clerk: http://www.westchesterclerk.com/