How safe are you at work? read below and see if you can honestly answer yes to all the safety issues, I know I can.
You don't have to answer yes to any of them, but the sooner you can read this again and answer yes, they we have made one more person responsible for there own and the publics safety.
There may be more you can think of and add to make us even more safer.
I know its all to easy for us all to arrive at a Job, jump out of our vehicles pull all the gear out and start to clean windows?
Speed is of the essence we may think, time is money? I hear you say. But let me tell you this, Safety is keeping safe and staying alive.
But how many of us take the time and care for our own, the customers and the general publics safety?? Not as many as there should be
Is the answer, Be honest with yourself do you do it??
We all have a legal (yes Legal) obligation to protect our selves and anyone else around us, or who ever may come into contact with us
When going about our business.
The best asset any company has is its employee's, they also have a legal obligation to protect them, this is why many company's include training programs within there curriculum.
Ok I'm self employed I hear you say, that's fine but all the above still applies to you, it doesn't matter how you go about cleaning the windows be it with a ladder or water fed pole, the Law applies to us all.
An individuals best asset is his eye's and instead of just seeing pound signs in front of them, use them to look for any potential dangers that may surround us?
When I first pull up out side my place of work, the first thing I think off, am I parked in a safe place as not to cause an obstruction or danger to anyone, I don't want to have to put all my gear away and get it out again, just to have to move a few feet to let someone out, and I certainly don't want to be responsible for an injury to anyone because of my stupidity and thoughtlessness. So just a few seconds thought can avoid the above.
The next thing I do is look at the job in hand, be it commercial or domestic my procedures are always the same.
It doesn't matter I hear some say, I checked it out last time I was here? That was a couple of weeks ago wasn't it, or maybe longer? Well it doesn't matter if it was yesterday I still check,
It only takes a few hours to dig a large hole with a digger, or better still Jack the lad has run a Live cable from his house to his shed, do I know, if he did it using the IEE 16th edition regulations? (There also there for our safety) no I don't, and the truth being if it was Jack the lad that fitted it, then you can bet your bottom dollar there is no MCB (miniature circuit breaker) fitted. Or its not tied up correctly using eye bolts and catenary wire? Ok you catch it with your ladder on it and break it, then there is a high risk of electrocution. And all because you didn't see it last time you were there.
What about all the kids toys, and the new garden furniture that arrived yesterday, the new plant pots that weren't there last time called?
All these things add up to potential danger to us all.
Are your ladders put up were a car can reverse or even drive into you? Have you laid your hose out were office staff or the public can trip over it?? Take a few seconds to see if there is a safe place to lay your hose and put out those signs.
Even if you are doing a domestic, you may be out the back and the owner of the house comes home, they may have had a hard day or maybe feeling unwell,so there not concentrating, you just rolled out your hose because you thought no one was home, the customer trips over your hose and hits there head or face on the corner of a building, What a mess that's going to be, and your feeble excuse, I didn't think you were home, won't wash with H&S or Insurance companies and it certainly won't wash with the police, if they decide to press criminal charges against you. And this can happen.
So even though the customer isn't home, take care how you lay your hose and put out your signs, and don't forget the signs if your hose crosses a public footpath, there are people out there, that look for hazards like this, and its an easy little earner for them, and it does happen.
If you use ladders and stop for a cupa or get side tracked by a potential new customer, don't leave them were they can blow over, even on a nice sunny day, there may be a freak gust of wind and come crashing down, onto that nice new BMW in a driveway or office carpark or hit someone, how would you like it if this happened to you, your partner or your kids? and all because we thought they would be alright there just for a minute.
Drop them down and lay them were they won't be a hazard to anyone or anything.
When useing pole wash systems watch for overhead power cables, if your unsure then leave it, its better to be safe than sorry.
mind you don't get caught in tree's and bushes, if you do don't yank it out, there is a danger of you taking a fall.
I could go on and on about common sense issues, It has probably taken you longer to read this than it will to check for potential dangers that surround us every day on every job every time we turn up.
Take a few seconds of your time to constantly check and always be aware of your surroundings.
Stay Safe my friends.
Jeff
