Paving and sweeping companies offer a valuable service to communities across our country. By paving damaged roads and parking lots and sweeping to maintain their cleanliness and curb appeal, your company ensures our streets, shopping areas and other places of business are clean, safe and attractive.
As you are aware, the possibility of safety risks comes with the use of heavy machinery. A significant aspect of ensuring the success of your paving and sweeping company is keeping your employees and the public safe while on these job sites. Read further to learn about ways to secure the safety of your team, the public and your equipment.
Enforce Common Sense Safety Protocols
Paving and sweeper safety begins with your company adopting clear, concise and common sense safety protocols. While the safety checklist governing your machinery should be specific and extensive, below are the Top 3 areas of importance.
Show Caution in Getting On and Off Your Equipment
Getting on and off machinery is one of the leading causes of injury for equipment operators. Combining the risks of moving machinery, wet, slippery surfaces and operator negligence can all lead to serious injury or worse. Implement the consistent practice of your employees checking for muddy footwear, wearing high-grip gloves to allow more stable mounting of equipment, and making sure when entering and exiting the equipment they have a stable handhold and footrest on at least 3 points of the machine at all times.
Don’t Crowd Around Machines, Including During Loading and Unloading
Do not allow your employees to gather around while in use. Those supervising should also be at a safe distance. In addition, when the loading and unloading process is underway, there is a lot going on and machine rollovers and other injuries are common. Consistent instruction on using “spotters,” proper tie-down procedures, safety tie wires and other safety equipment and procedures that should be implemented for best practices.
Require Safe Distance from Motorists
Enforce employee safety practices of properly creating safe work zones when working on roads and highways. Use reflective barriers and signage that instruct motorists to use caution and slow down. Employees should also wear high-visibility clothing and gear and should stay clear from all moving vehicles.
Enhancing Safety Through Comprehensive Operator Training Programs
Knowing the ins and outs of how to use the equipment and how that knowledge should be adapted to each job ensures excellence in performance and increases safety. If your company has ever experienced an accident on site that results in injury or even death, you have experienced the extensive investigation that follows. Looking into the extent of training of heavy equipment operators is directly related to this. Untrained or undisciplined operators are more likely to cause accidents.
One of the “Fatal Four” leading causes of construction worker deaths is known as “struck by object.” This includes being struck by a piece of equipment or object that is being moved by another piece of equipment. This is why the OSHA (Occupational Health and Safety Administration) cites operator training in its education materials as a way to protect workers from all hazards. Be in a constant state of creating and revising your company’s training curriculum as well as researching and evaluating new curricula.
Safeguarding Operations: The Crucial Role of Equipment Maintenance in Paving and Sweeper Safety
Another important practice in ensuring safety on paving and sweeper job sites is equipment maintenance. Frequent maintenance inspection not only prevents small flaws from turning into larger issues, saving your company time and money, but they also ensure employee safety. Keeping your equipment in the best shape possible extends its lifespan. Some aspects of your equipment, such as the fuel tank, brakes, headlights and brake lights, should be checked daily.
Other aspects of your equipment, such as the hydraulic oil levels, the coolant levels, and the fuel delivery systems, can be set up to be checked at intervals by either how much time has passed or how many hours the machinery has been in use. Keeping your company equipment in a constant flow of maintenance checks will increase both long-term profit and, most importantly, employee safety.
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