Education, training, key in preventing accidents on the jobsite

by jason_cramp | March 2, 2016 4:30 pm

By Steve Goodale

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Building, renovating, and servicing pools and spas/hot tubs is a dangerous occupation and one that puts workers in close contact with potentially hazardous situations daily. Machinery, tools, water, electricity, chemicals, and confined spaces are all common in the workplace for those in the aquatics industry. No matter the company’s size—whether a large firm with hundreds of employees or an entrepreneur operating out of their truck—the importance of safety at work is equal.

There is nothing more important to any company than avoiding a serious or fatal injury on the job, and smaller injuries at work are detrimental to the efficiency of the company as well as being detrimental to the health of the injured worker. It is in the best interest of all parties to reduce the likelihood of
a workplace accident. An accident can happen to anyone, at any time. The statistical likelihood of experiencing one can be reduced with proper education, training, and the right frame of mind. To create a safe working environment, this article will discuss a few things that need to come together.

Education

Proper education to identify and reduce the potential for dangers at work is paramount in establishing a solid, long-term approach to avoiding accidents. Understanding the nature of how quickly accidents can happen and the severity of not following established safety protocols is something all new employees must be taught.

In the pool and spa/hot tub industry, many new, untrained workers can be added to the roster in a short period of time due to the seasonal fluctuations of the job. This can create a logistical problem with respect to bringing everybody up to speed when each worker is starting from a different level of base knowledge.

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In some cases, many seasonal workers are experiencing employment for the first time and need special attention with respect to the basics of workplace safety. What might appear to be common sense to one person may not be the same for another. Among the many job-specific dangers new employees must be educated about, there are some fundamental safety rules employees should follow.

For instance, if something looks dangerous, or it is not understood how to proceed safely on the job, then work should be stopped immediately to seek the advice of a supervisor.

Do not shortcut established safety protocol to save time either. The cost of doing business is such that a job takes as long as it does to do it safely.

If someone else is working in an unsafe manner, regardless of who they are in relation to their position within the company, ask them to stop or report the situation to a manager or supervisor.

To say an employee should report unsafe work to a manager may likely ruffle a few feathers with more experienced workers who have developed their own internal tolerance for what is and is not considered safe on a jobsite. After many years in the same position, complacency of experienced staff is one of the biggest dangers on a jobsite, and something that must be sought out aggressively by management.

In most cases, when a serious injury occurs at work, there is an established safety standard that was not being followed at the time of the accident. Education for employee safety is more than teaching individual rules; it is an opportunity for managers to affirm the importance of safety within the company with the employees. This will assist greatly once the employee is in the field, far from view of the management team, where the opportunity for uncertainty or pressure from other workers to do something unsafe exists.

Training

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Training in the field is one of the only ways to ensure safe working practices are established and followed. This includes safety training courses such as Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System (WHMIS), which teaches proper handling of hazardous chemicals. Further, understanding and providing material safety data sheets (MSDS) for any products a worker can come into contact with is also required.

Field training is generally where employee habits, good or bad, will be developed. Implementing a standard and creating a culture of health and safety within a company are essential in actually enforcing this behaviour in the field. A zero-tolerance attitude towards willfully ignoring safety measures should be required and communicated strongly to all employees. In addition to field training, manuals that reiterate field training processes should be made available to all employees.

Leading by example

A great deal of company resources can be spent establishing and implementing safety standards. If the field team does not adhere to these standards, then the resources are wasted, and the company is still exposed to an increased potential for an accident in the workplace.

A successful risk mitigation plan is one that starts from the top down. It is critical for company owners, managers, supervisors, and crew leaders to follow the safety guidelines by the letter, which will have a net positive result on employees working under these people. Failure to engage senior-level workers to adopt a strict adherence to safety will ultimately be the failure of most well-intentioned companies in this regard.

Working safe is a mindset more than anything else. Making the conscious decision to not skip any safety protocols regardless of any project deadline pressure is the most important aspect when it comes to a safe jobsite. Adopting an attitude of safety is easier said than done and ultimately each person is responsible for their own actions. This means a responsible business needs to identify any person within the company who chronically does not follow safety protocols and resolve the situation.

Commonly overlooked areas of safety on the jobsite

It is not realistic to have a comprehensive set of safety standards in a single article that would cover the full spectrum of potential concerns working in the pool and spa/hot tub industry. Instead, consider these five basic safety steps that should be part of any safe job site:

1. A ground fault circuit interrupter (GFCI) must be used at all times when working with electricity around water. It takes less than 0.1 amps to stop the heart if the path of current is flowing in the wrong orientation. A GFCI prevents the potential for electrocution by tripping the circuit breaker any time a current spike begins as a result of a ground fault. Most outdoor receptacles in the home are protected through a GFCI in the electrical panel, or more commonly, one outdoor plug will be a GFCI with the remaining plugs on the circuit being installed on the ‘load’ side of the GFCI. For this reason, it is not always immediately clear to a pool worker whether their power source is GFCI protected or not. Carrying a GFCI tester, which is a small and inexpensive plug-in tool, is a must for any service technician. Equally as important is carrying an external GFCI that can be used to make any non-GFCI protected line safe. Working on or around pools using non-GFCI electrical supplies is unacceptable from a safety perspective.
2. Tools, equipment, and electrical cords must be in perfect working condition. Any deficiencies in tools or equipment should be dealt with before using them. Frayed cords, broken ground pins on electrical plugs and equipment with safety guards removed or broken should all be serviced or replaced prior to use. In the heat of a busy pool season, it can be very easy to overlook these items—especially if an employee is working daily—from sun up to sun down—just to keep up. Nothing other than a dedication to safety will ensure that this type of maintenance work gets done during these busy periods.
3. Every pool company should have a large selection of safety equipment, goggles, gloves, respirators, and hearing protection. Unfortunately, the people who pay for this equipment are usually different than those who actually use it and, as a result, they tend to get abused, broken, lost, or in some cases, not used at all. Making employees accountable for the safety equipment assigned to them, and the proper use of the equipment, is a great way to help enforce the proper care of this gear. Equally important is enforcing the safety equipment is actually used on every occasion for which it was purchased.
4. Working in the pool and spa/hot tub industry exposes workers to many different hazardous chemicals. It is critical for anyone working with or around dangerous chemicals that they understand how to properly protect themselves and how to respond to an emergency situation. Not only can the individual chemicals be dangerous, more importantly, employees should understand how chemical interaction can be an extreme danger. Complacency around pool and spa/hot tub chemicals is one of the biggest dangers to workers in this industry that is easy to avoid. When it comes to safety equipment and working with pool chemicals, a borrowed acronym from the motorcycle industry is quite relevant: ATGATT (All the Gear All the Time).
5. The average work truck is one of the biggest concerns for potential accidents on the job. The nature of the tools, equipment, materials, and chemicals that are needed to transport to and from jobsites is such that accidents can, and will happen. Dangers involving work vehicles can be avoided in multiple ways.

Drivers

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Pool construction and service trucks are large and visibility when operating these vehicles is often poor. In some cases, many drivers may be operating these vehicles for the first time and require a training period to allow them to become familiar with the vehicle’s proportions. Additionally, pool workers can be subject to long hours and/or exposed to difficult weather conditions, which can be cause for drivers being tired and/or distracted.

Vehicles past due for maintenance

Given the seasonal nature of Canada’s pool industry, the peak season load can be almost unmanageable for many companies. As a result, regular vehicle maintenance may get pushed to the backburner simply due to lack of time during the day. To avoid these problems, it is important to be proactive with respect to vehicle maintenance by scheduling service appointments into the day-to-day activities of the business. Tires, brakes, glass, mirrors, lights, and signals are all items that fail early on pool construction and service vehicles, but tend to be ignored long after the problem is noticed.

Disorganized cargo areas

Heavy, awkward sized and shaped tools and equipment, multiple chemicals, shifting loads, and demanding hours can make for a disaster in the back of a work truck. Securing loads properly, isolating chemicals from one another, and keeping the vehicle clean and orderly will go a long way to reducing the potential for an accident.

Going home safely at the end of the day is the only thing that matters. To accomplish this, simply decide outright that working safe will be a priority for the business and its employees and conduct each job accordingly at all times. Do not fold to pressure from deadlines, co-workers, or difficult projects. Occupational health and safety is a frame of mind and a way of life. All too often workers and management, take workplace safety too lightly until an accident hits close to home. Therefore, minimize risks and take action today to ensure a safe workplace every day.

[5]Steve Goodale is a second-generation pool and spa expert from Oakville, Ont. In addition to owning Green Pools and A Better Pool Company, he is also an Internet developer and author of www.swimmingpoolsteve.com[6]. He can be reached via e-mail at swimmingpoolsteve@gmail.com[7].

Source URL: https://www.poolspamarketing.com/trade/education-training-key-in-preventing-accidents-on-the-jobsite/

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