Make Sure Your Safe Even On A Sales Call

Safety:

Safety in construction is not just for your construction sites where you have your employee’s working. It also applies to anywhere you go or do for your company.

For example; if you are going to a potential client’s home to measure up for the quoting of future work then you need to make sure that the same safety standards apply.

If you require equipment then you should bringing your own and not relying on the homeowner to supply you with some. Every homeowner has ladders, but that doesn’t mean that you should trust them or allow the homeowner to set them up themselves. More than once have I and friends of mine been put into a situation where there could have been a fall or a serious injury because of a ladder that was either borrowed from a homeowner or set up by the homeowner.

If you have to go up on top a ladder then you need to ask the homeowner to hold the ladder for you
while you are up there or when you are coming down. If the homeowner cannot be trusted or cannot be relied on to be there then you should be bringing someone along with you to make sure that the bottom of the ladder stays secure.

If you believe that the situation that you have to put yourself in is not worth the risk without further equipment or in better weather conditions then you should have no trouble telling the person that you will come back another day when the situation can be made safer for everyone involved.

Remember that your health is worth more than the any job that you would be pricing that you would be putting at risk.

Rob Abbott
Village Builders Inc.

Bend those knees when shoveling snow off the jobsite- construction safety

Safety:

Bend those knees when shoveling snow off the jobsite.

It might sound like a logical thing to talk about when living in Canada but there are a lot of compensation claims during the winter from workers hurting their backs from shoveling snow on construction sites.

Shoveling snow off of a construction site is a necessary evil, snow must be removed for work to progress and un-shoveled snow is actually a safety hazard as it increases the potential for slips and falls at the work site. All area’s that workers are going to be working in or travel through must have the snow removed and to do that on most sites means it has to be done by hand instead of with a machine.

Depending on the weather conditions the snow can be heavy or it can be full of ice, these kind of conditions can cause injured backs if the proper snow shoveling techniques aren’t fallowed.

I’m not here to tell people how to properly shovel snow, if you live in Canada you should already know how to do that, what I am here to do is remind you to Bend Your Knees.

Most people that injure there back (shoveling snow) usually do it because they are either not paying attention to the way they are shoveling snow or they are in too big of a hurry when they are actually doing it.

Bend Your knees and when you’re finished shoveling snow you will still be able to work the rest of the day.

Remember that the easiest way to stay safe on a construction site is to think before you do anything.

Rob Abbott
Village Builders Inc.