This week I would like to talk about basic hand tool safety, hand tool safety depends on the right tool for the job! Some people think that if you are at home working, you can get away with using tools improperly or substituting one tool for another. Our work makes rugged demands on our hand tools, so why cut corners at home. When you misuse a tool, or use the improper tool for the job, or use one in poor condition, it can result in an injury.

It is important that you choose the right tool for the job, at home and at work. Would you use a hammer to drive a screw? I would hope not! Or a Phillips screw driver to punch a hole? Not me. Why take a chance of injury? Get the right tool to do the job. Even if it takes a little more time to complete the job, you will not only prevent the possibility of injury, but you will also save your tool from damage. Once you use the improper tool for a job, and damage it, you never know what might happen. For instance, using a hammer that has a head on it that is loose or wiggles, you never know just when that head of the hammer might fly off, and hurt you or a co-worker – if the hammer is in question, replace it.

Here are just a few tips for using tools in a safer manner;

• Always cut away from yourself, not towards yourself
• Don’t use a chisel or screw driver as a pry bar
• Don’t’ use a file without a handle
• Use the full handle of a hammer, don’t choke up on it, you’ll lose control of it
• Tools are not toys, if someone wants to borrow a tool, hand it to them, don’t throw it. It’s not a ball – it’s a tool!

Basic hand tool safety starts with you, just use some common sense, if you don’t know how to use a tool, or what tool to use, don’t be afraid to ask someone who does.

Len
Safety Director

Maintenance programs for lighting are a good way to make sure that you facility lighting doesn’t come into disrepair, which keeps production levels high, but most of the time it overlooks real cost saving areas. Instead of just replacing bad lamps and ballasts with the same old thing as is customary, take a look at the following ideas that can help make your maintenance program even more effective.

Cleaning fixture lenses and reflectors will increase light output and also the dirt and bug build up will increase the amount of heat inside the fixture which in turn will decrease the efficiency and life of the new lamps and of ballasts that you just installed.

Look into more modern and efficient lighting technologies to replace your old and inefficient lighting systems. Cost can always be prohibitive when looking an entire facility upgrade, so just start with one room. Motion sensors can be installed to save wasted energy when no one is occupying the space. New 2X4 T-5 HO (High Output)direct/indirect lighting can put out more usable light with less power that older prismatic lens, parabolic, and even older direct/indirect 2X4 lighting.

There are a lot of newer lighting technologies out there that have been put to the test, and the prices are coming down daily as the technology becomes more and more commonplace with set standards. Starting slowly with your lighting system maintenance on a monthly basis you can build a more efficient and more effective lighting system for your building.

Jason
Estimator

Most of us have taken a shortcut at one time or another. I know when I was a kid, I would climb over a fence if it was quicker than using the gate, or cut through an empty field, instead of walking through the neighborhood. In many cases, a shortcut can involve danger.

If you are in the habit of taking dangerous shortcuts, break it. Working in construction, a shortcut can be deadly.

If you are in need of reaching a higher elevation, don’t use a bucket turned upside-down, or a stack of boxes, or even a chair – use a ladder, that is what it was built for! Don’t just try to avoid dangerous situations, make it your goal, and if you see there’s no safe way – Let someone know – and I am sure every attempt will be made to access the necessary means to make it safe! We all deserve the right to go home at the end of each and every day without injury. So keep in the front of your mind (not the back), the shortcut you want to take, may not be the safe way to go.

Len
Safety Director

Have you ever thought of ways to make your job safer? Perhaps if someone came up with a better and Safer tool to use, or a safer piece of equipment – maybe a way to simplify construction methods. But here is something most people give no thought to – Practicing Good Housekeeping.

Poor Housekeeping can cause accidents, results can range from a small cut to a loss of life. A nail in a scrapped Piece of wood, a cluttered walkway, scrap conduit, even your lunch trash can cause an accident!

Once-A-Day or Once-A-Week clean up is just not enough. Good Housekeeping is a continuing process in which everyone must participate in throughout the work day!

The following are some simple ideas towards Good Housekeeping:

• Keeping extension cords off the floor as much as possible, hung them if you can, just no low enough that someone could hang them self
• Keep walkways clean and clear of trash
• Keep scrap conduit and wood picked up
• Clean up spills and liquids on the floor to prevent slipping hazards
• Keep storage areas and storage containers neat and orderly
• Use trash cans for your empty lunch bags and other food rubbish, like soda cans, water bottles, plates and hamburger containers, etc.

Good Housekeeping does pay off. It is easier and safer to work in a clean area than in a cluttered junk pile – Good Housekeeping is everyone’s job.

Len
Safety Director

Over the past couple of weeks I’ve been traveling a lot more on the freeways, as I have joined a gym that is located about 15 miles away from my house. I used to drive around the valley a lot as a service technician. I have forgotten how frustrating it can be to deal with traffic. The direction that I go to the gym actually has less traffic than going the other way, so it’s not like I’m dealing with “Rush Hour” (ever notice that rush hour actually lasts about 3 hours!). What I have noticed is that people can’t seem to keep a consistent speed. The speed limit is 65 M.P.H. and traffic in the fast lane is going from 75 M.P.H to 55 M.P.H …WHY? I look ahead and I can see the one car that is in the fast lane with about a dozen other cars backed up behind them. This driver has decided that they can drive however they want, wherever they want without consideration for others. It doesn’t matter that they are being passed by a constant stream of red faced drivers who, trust me, are not waving “hi.” These same drivers in a situation where a lane is ending and traffic is really heavy, will pull part way into that lane that is ending, in order to keep you from passing them in that lane, even when there is 1000′ till the lane actually ends. I guess that they figure that if they have to wait in a longer line then you should too, however what I think is that they are just too stupid to realize that if they had gotten in that lane they could be ahead of you. If traffic can fill up all the space available for the merge, then at the point at which you HAVE to merge, if everyone will just take their turn and one car from each lane at a time merges, it’s like a zipper, and traffic moves as efficiently as it can in a grid lock.

What all of these annoying practices of these drivers comes down to is a problem that is rampant everywhere…People are selfish and don’t consider others. Next time you are on the road and you see that guy coming up behind you really fast, pull into the lane next to you, and let him go by, even if he is not driving the way you think he should, it is the considerate thing to do.

Jason
Estimator

Your employer can do everything he/she can to protect you while on the job, we can issue protective equipment, post signs, have safety meetings, but off-the-job safety is in your hands. Your safety away from work is important to your employer. It’s not easy to replace good employees, even temporarily. So, when you get hurt away from work, your employer will suffer too. Not only that, we hate to see anyone injured, on the job or off.

Take your safety practices from work home with you. You wouldn’t work without eye protection at work if it is required, so why work in your workshop at home without it? And don’t overlook safety during recreation either. Have you ever noticed how many injuries happen when people are playing football in the backyard on the weekend, or skiing on a weekend getaway. Don’t overdo it when it comes to recreation, play with the kids, but don’t try to keep up with them, you are no longer one yourself. Remember, if you are over 20, what you were doing all day, now takes all day to do. Safety belongs in our life all the time, not just at work.

Len
Safety Director