Asking, Are you working safe?

jerseygirl

jerseygirl

Location
balancing on the edge . . . .
I was asked to share this here. I have been watching new traffic lights being installed at the intersection where I work. The area I am in has a front line view of the goings on. Recently a regional company has been installing the wiring and lights on the new pole and the equipment they were in were bucket trucks. In knowing a little about what SHOULD be worn when you are in one, I looked for any fall arrest harnesses. As the day ended, I did not see anyone in the buckets wearing any harness or waist Belt. So they next day, when they were on my side of the street right at the front door, I did it, I asked the gentleman who is working in the bucket if he was supposed to be wearing a fall arrest harness, he said yes I am. I said well two words widows and orphans, Tom Dunlap taught me that saying. I told the gentleman his actions might cause widows and orphans. He had to move his truck to the other side of the street and as he got out of his truck he pulled his fall arrest harness out from his seat and he put it on so now I'm watching him in the bucket truck installing traffic lights wearing his fall arrest harness I'm glad to see that he's now safe.
I was taught by several well known member here, to say something, even if the person, you think, knows more than you. Stop them, ask them, are you working safe. I hope my short conversation with this person puts a reminder in them to work safe, put on that harness. Thank you all for teaching me and sharing your knowledge.

Shari
 
jerseygirl said:
I was asked to share this here. I have been watching new traffic lights being installed at the intersection where I work. The area I am in has a front line view of the goings on. Recently a regional company has been installing the wiring and lights on the new pole and the equipment they were in were bucket trucks. In knowing a little about what SHOULD be worn when you are in one, I looked for any fall arrest harnesses. As the day ended, I did not see anyone in the buckets wearing any harness or waist Belt. So they next day, when they were on my side of the street right at the front door, I did it, I asked the gentleman who is working in the bucket if he was supposed to be wearing a fall arrest harness, he said yes I am. I said well two words widows and orphans, Tom Dunlap taught me that saying. I told the gentleman his actions might cause widows and orphans. He had to move his truck to the other side of the street and as he got out of his truck he pulled his fall arrest harness out from his seat and he put it on so now I'm watching him in the bucket truck installing traffic lights wearing his fall arrest harness I'm glad to see that he's now safe.
I was taught by several well known member here, to say something, even if the person, you think, knows more than you. Stop them, ask them, are you working safe. I hope my short conversation with this person puts a reminder in them to work safe, put on that harness. Thank you all for teaching me and sharing your knowledge.

Shari
Click to expand...
Great story
Thank you for sharing!
 
Good for you @jerseygirl for speaking up.

When I worked for the power company, I was leaving the corporate office one evening. A contract crew was erecting the giant fake Christmas tree (25-30 ft tall) in the atrium as I passed through on my way to the parking deck. They were climbing on the metal frame sections of the support structure will no fall protection. Especially since I was in the Safety and Health Department, I just couldn't turn a blind eye. I had the supervisor stop the work and explained they had to do the work in an OSHA compliant manner as specified in their contract. It kind of made me feel like the Grinch, but at least the work was done safely from that point on. I just wonder how many other people had walked past and didn't notice/know/speak up.
 
I felt like a douchebag for doing it, but awhile back the public works crew in the town I lived was doing some hack ass pruning on some very nice spruce in town. The peel cuts were one thing, but the saw use with no PPE from the loader bucket was too much….. I called their office as a “concerned tax payer” and within minutes that job halted.
 
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I have a friend who is in the Coast Guard. He's in technology/communications. When on land (at the base), they follow all CalOSHA guidelines. He says, when they go to sea, you'll find yourself climbing a radio tower (with protection) in the middle of 20 foot seas, with the companionship of wind and rain. A whole different set of what's reasonable and expected (demanded).
 
I heard articulated in a recent safety meeting that there are occupations with inherent risk to the point that bodily injury and death are part of the package. An example of one of those occupations is wartime military service. Our occupations do not entail that requirement. When you walk out the door in the morning, you ought not to have to consider that breaking or killing your body is just the risk you run. We can and must do better. We are all our brothers and sisters keepers in this regard. In the same meeting it was called out as a tangible demonstration of love, to engage in that sometimes awkward task of stopping work when it's not being done in the safest/best way possible, to keep everyone working according to safe standards.
 
We used to have a saying in oil and gas - "Asking me to walk past a safety hazard and not do something about it is asking me to debase the value I put on your life, and I just can't do that".
About pointing out problems - one of our refining vp's said: "I know we have problems, everyone points them out all day long. What I need are folks who come to me with a problem - for example do we comply? - give me three options for solutions and then tell me which one you would pick and why - and here's the kicker - if you were spending your own money"! He called that "The Doctrine of Completed Staff Work".
Was a great place to work and get stuff done.
 
timely this comes up. I witnessed a critical anchor failure this week.
First thing Monday morning and I had just been asked to climb 4-8 trees with rigging involved so I got straight on it. I took a quick look at this falling plan; had doubts but got a comment like "he's experienced" so I made scarce. I hadn't even been introduced to the faller, he ignored me, so I didn't make the effort to engage.

They tried pulling a cherry up into another cherry (there were mature Rhododendrons below the (almost 45 degree) lean) with a machine. Rope tied from falling tree, over a branch to a block at base of neighbor tree, to small machine. it worked, but as they were cutting bottom chunks off, the cherry branch rigging point broke, and all fell directly on a Japanese Maple the woman had planted herself, her favorite tree...

I was up in a tree about 20 yards from the Jap Maple..

I definitely could have spoke up about their rigging plan. I was very skeptical. The whole culture of firing up the chainsaw .. I hate coming to an older guy like I know better... but I wonder if a challenge for my day was to stop that .

Thanks all for the reminders to speak up. It was unusual for me to take the "not my circus" approach but the fact the guy didn't even say 'what's up' in the morning made it extra hard to engage him. I knew enough to get away from that show.

It was sad to see, and a confirmation that my inkling suspicions (I call stuff out all the time, for us to double check our plan and thinking), are founded, and I may have already prevented things like this on other days. How will we know when we avoid, and all goes well? It's seeing the edges where we learn the limits.

So here this is my potent reminder that Speaking UP is worth it. I may have looked like a stick in the mud, (I got glazed eyes when I pointed out how the rigging vector had played in) and maybe ignored anyway. Yet my interest in playing cool to random fellow tree worker is not as high as my interest in seeing good tree work. In this case it was my focus on seeing through my own long list of work for the day and minding my business.

But any of those reasons pale when considering the consequences, major injury to a prime tree;
or one of us.
 
That's a tough feeling to deal with. It's fortunate that the only casualty of the rigging point failure was an ornamental plant. Sounds like the outcome could have potentially been a lot worse.

One of the conundrums of speaking up and changing plans, is that if all goes well, it's difficult for others to see how the change facilitated that boring and uneventful piece of work.

Cheers, and stay safe!
 
jerseygirl said:
I was asked to share this here. I have been watching new traffic lights being installed at the intersection where I work. The area I am in has a front line view of the goings on. Recently a regional company has been installing the wiring and lights on the new pole and the equipment they were in were bucket trucks. In knowing a little about what SHOULD be worn when you are in one, I looked for any fall arrest harnesses. As the day ended, I did not see anyone in the buckets wearing any harness or waist Belt. So they next day, when they were on my side of the street right at the front door, I did it, I asked the gentleman who is working in the bucket if he was supposed to be wearing a fall arrest harness, he said yes I am. I said well two words widows and orphans, Tom Dunlap taught me that saying. I told the gentleman his actions might cause widows and orphans. He had to move his truck to the other side of the street and as he got out of his truck he pulled his fall arrest harness out from his seat and he put it on so now I'm watching him in the bucket truck installing traffic lights wearing his fall arrest harness I'm glad to see that he's now safe.
I was taught by several well known member here, to say something, even if the person, you think, knows more than you. Stop them, ask them, are you working safe. I hope my short conversation with this person puts a reminder in them to work safe, put on that harness. Thank you all for teaching me and sharing your knowledge.

Shari
Click to expand...
Hi Shari, Long time No Speak !
Good on you for speaking up !

Unfortunately, my guess is that the bucket operator regressed as soon as he was out of sight on your street.
At least you made him think about it !

I know an extremely well know "arborist" who worked for Davey Tree many years ago.
(Everyone has worked for Davey) - - - except me.
He was a group leader, and liked to try new equipment, techniques, etc.; all of which were outside Davey approval.

Somehow, he had an inside source that alerted him prior to the arrival of any Davey Safety Inspections !
So on those days he only used Davey approved stuff.
 
GregManning said:
Hi Shari, Long time No Speak !
Good on you for speaking up !

Unfortunately, my guess is that the bucket operator regressed as soon as he was out of sight on your street.
At least you made him think about it !

I know an extremely well know "arborist" who worked for Davey Tree many years ago.
(Everyone has worked for Davey) - - - except me.
He was a group leader, and liked to try new equipment, techniques, etc.; all of which were outside Davey approval.

Somehow, he had an inside source that alerted him prior to the arrival of any Davey Safety Inspections !
So on those days he only used Davey approved stuff.
Click to expand...
He was probably more productive with the "outlawed" stuff.
 
cerviarborist said:
One of the conundrums of speaking up and changing plans, is that if all goes well, it's difficult for others to see how the change facilitated that boring and uneventful piece of work.
Click to expand...
One of the sayings on our crew at the end of our jobsite safety brief, especially on really technical jobs, is “Let’s make it a boring, uneventful day.” Those are our favorite type of days. We’re always shooting to achieve the most boring tree work possible.
 
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