Bench Vice Safety

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Sometimes we overlook the simplest tools. Just because something is not a power tool or pneumatic, doesn’t mean we still can’t get hurt if we use it incorrectly. Take a hammer for example, the most basic of tools and yet people get hurt every day by them. So, today we are going to quickly go over bench vices; a great tool if used properly. So, let’s jump into the do’s and don’ts.

Make sure your vice is attached properly. It should be secured firmly with bolts and lock washers. Never weld a vice to the table or bench. Always check the vice prior to use for any cracks or damage. Do not use if there are signs of either. Do not attempt to fix the damage by welding. Replace parts as needed, such as damaged jaws or a broken or bent handle. Make sure the threads are clean and well oiled, if they are not, do so yourself before use. Support your work piece (especially if cutting). You don’t want to add extra strain on the vice and you can’t be dropping work pieces… That’s a new hazard all on its own. I know most of us are guilty of hammering the handle to get that extra grip, but don’t! And last but definitely not least, always wear your PPE!

Shutdown Season – Part 2

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Like I mentioned earlier, the hours and shifts are long…. very long. Working 12 hour days on a 21 day shift (with a random day off in camp) can completely drain you. 12 hour days are hard enough, but when you’re doing it  for a week or two straight, you start to feel like a zombie. When you become that sleep deprived; you are at greater risk for an incident. Make sure you get to bed early. Working a shutdown isn’t the time to stay up all night trading stories with a coworker. Be sure you are eating a healthy, balanced diet. This will help keep your energy up. Also try and fit in some sort of physical activity. This could be a full workout or a 20 walk. This will boost your energy and help you sleep. Try and avoid caffeine. I know this is a tough one when your alarm is blaring at 4:30 AM, but you’ll end up more tired in the long run.

Working a maintenance shutdown will almost always include working in confined spaces and practicing LOTO (lock out tag out). Be sure your tickets are up to date and you feel comfortable with these hazards. If you’re not, tell your supervisor. They can partner you with someone more experienced to show you the ropes and help you be more comfortable. If you’re a veteran around these hazards, help workers that aren’t. Remember, you were once there too! Doing a maintenance job is not the time to have an ego about the rookies. Keep in mind, their mistake could be everyone’s problem, so just give some friendly advice or a helping hand.

Working a shutdown can be tough! You have the long hours, the extra people everywhere (seriously you can’t get away from all the people anywhere) grueling days of physical labor, the isolation from friends and family and the camp food (okay some are pretty good). It can be a rough go. However; you need to take care of yourself, get a good night’s rest, proper meals and keep your mind on the job. If you do that, I promise your shift will end and you’ll have a ton of dough to throw around after.

Shutdown Season – Part 1

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For us trades people, shutdown season is a little love-hate. Lots of hard work, tons of hours and crazy long shifts… Usually in camp. On the plus side… It’s a ton of money. So much so, some workers just chase shutdowns, only work a few a year and are set for the rest of the year. However; for the rest of us, that may not be used to working a shutdown, there are a few extra hazards we should go over.

There will be way more people on site and in camp than usual. These sites are losing money every day they are shut down for maintenance, so they understandably want to get as much work done as possible every day. There will be almost every trade working side by side in the same area. You need to safely work around each other and communicate with one another. This isn’t the time to start the “which trade is better?” discussion. This is the time to make sure you’re all on the same page so no one gets hurt. A lot of calls and postings go out for these jobs, so you will have some newbies on site. Make sure you set the example and help them out. A “green as grass” worker is more likely to get injured or cause an incident, so look out for them. There will also be more sub contractors, they may not be green workers, but they may not have been to this site before. It doesn’t hurt to help them out if they need it too. Check out our next post as we continue to go over shutdowns.

When the Supervisor isn’t there

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We are all basically safety officers when the white hats around, right? Anytime a foreman or a legit safety officer is in the vicinity, we all take extra care to do everything so safely. For some workers though, as soon as no white hat is in sight, it’s back to their same old ways. How does that make any sense? If we can be safe in front of supervisors to save our jobs, you’d think we would want to be safe all the time to save… I don’t know…. OUR LIVES! Safety isn’t just for when the foreman is roaming site. It absolutely should be an everyday, all the time part of your job. Keep this in mind the next time you’re about to take a risk… Ask yourself “would I do this in front of the foreman or superintendent?” If the answer is no… then don’t do it even if they are nowhere around. Act like you’re always being bird dogged if needed. Be the worker that is safe even when the supervisor is nowhere to be seen. Set the example.

Uneven Terrain

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The snow is melting! The snow is melting! I’m pretty pumped to be typing that! I feel like I don’t know what the work site looks like without snow. As excited as we all are to be snow free, it does come with a bit of a hazard. Once the snow starts to melt, the ground below can be a mess. From the months of being covered with snow, pathways and ruts can turn into mud pits. Puddles can leave us clueless about the gaping canyon that lurks below. These hazards can very easily cause sprained and broken ankles along with an array of slips, trips, and falls. So do your part, if an area is a hazard, fix it. You can fill a hole or very uneven terrain with gravel or flag it off till it has dried up and is safe to use again. Don’t leave it for the next guy to find the hard way. Be proactive, then we can all enjoy this spring air.

The Luck of the Irish

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Some of us may be a little worse for wear this morning after partaking in some Saint Patrick’s Day festivities. I know the call of those green beers, leprechaun costumes and the social acceptance of pinching a perfect stranger is too much for some of us to say no to. However, showing up to work hungover and on a couple of hours of sleep just won’t cut it. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for celebrating the Irish or any other event where I get to drink beer mid-day. But being hungover can lead to some serious safety hazards.

Tying one on the night before and only getting three or four hours of sleep may not be enough for you to get the alcohol out of your system. Therefore, you are technically still impaired which leads to so many safety hazards such as delayed response, poor judgement, bad decision making and absent mindedness…..not to mention the physical hazards, like sluggishness, dehydration and exhaustion. No one is saying you can’t unwind and enjoy a big event like St. Paddy’s Day, but if you have to be on site the next morning try and ease up. Make sure to not go overboard, drink a lot of water and call it quits with enough time for you to get a good night’s sleep and recover. Try and keep your big party nights for when you have no work the next day. If you do overindulge on “Sunday funday” it’s best to call in sick rather than putting yourself and co-workers in danger. I wouldn’t make a habit out of this, you may end up unemployed with no pot O’gold. ☘️

Harness Fit

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Okay, you’re wearing a harness! Yay, that’s half the battle. But are you wearing it correctly? If you’re just throwing it on without adjusting or checking it, you might as well not bother. If it’s just hanging off you, it likely will not even work in the case of a fall, or you could find yourself in a situation like Mr. Red Hat here. It only takes a minute or two to ensure you have it on properly and those two minutes could save your life, save you from a serious injury, or at least save you from a harness wedgie 😬. If you’re working at heights, you will always have a partner, so get in the habit of checking each others harness for the correct fit. You don’t want to get stuck “hanging out” with your partner all day, do you? For step-by-step instructions on how to don and doff your gear, head over to our YouTube page.

Food Safety (At Lunchtime)

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After coming fresh off a ruined weekend, thanks to food poisoning… I thought we’d better go over some food safety tips. Hopefully, I can save you from a horrible weekend like I just endured.


I can’t tell you how often I have seen workers leave their lunch on their lunch table all day. Food such as meat, sandwiches, leftovers, eggs and so on left out at room temperature for longer than one hour is no longer safe to eat. Room temperature is the ideal temperature for bacteria to grow rapidly in food, it’s considered the “danger zone”. So use the fridge to store your food. I have never been to a worksite lunchroom without a fridge, but if you work where there is no fridge or spend your days working from a truck, make sure you use a cooler with proper ice packs to keep food cool. Eat your food within 3-4 days. After that, the likelihood of getting food poisoning increases. Don’t try to go by the smell or taste. Most bacteria that causes food poisoning is odorless and tasteless. When reheating food, cook till it has a temperature of 165°… I know we don’t all have food thermometers on us while at work, so just make sure it’s steaming hot. If using a microwave, stir often to make sure it has been cooked evenly. Always eat on clean surfaces, not the plate you bring on Monday and take home to be cleaned on Friday. Of course always, always wash your hands before you eat.

Food poisoning is no fun! Even washing my produce and my hands (maybe too much, my love for hand sani is real), storing food properly, cooking till the internal temperature is adequate (my love for my meat thermometer is up there too) and never cross contaminating; still here I am laying in bed writing this. So I guess what I’m saying is, even if you follow all the food safety rules there is a small chance you could still get food poisoning. We aren’t always in control of the food we eat. Following the rules significantly lessens your chances. I mean I haven’t had food poisoning in 25 years, so I think that’s something right? When in doubt, throw it out. Serious words to live by.

EWP Anchor Points

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We obviously all know the importance of tying off while wearing fall protection and working on EWPs. But it’s not just as simple as attaching your lanyard to whatever is close by. It has to be done correctly; there are some serious do’s and don’ts in regard to tying off. Let’s go over them. When on an EWP, you must only tie off to approved anchors. These anchors must be authorized by the manufacturer, not the handrail your partner says he’s been using for years. (Please! never tie off to handrails and make sure no one else does either!). Each anchor has been made to withstand the fall arrest force of one person, so never double up.  Overloading on an anchor could result in failure of the anchor during a fall… Which is kinda when you need it the most… Just saying. Make sure you don’t tie off to anything other than approved anchors such as handrails (just touched on this above), and other parts of the lift or any other structures. Doing so can leave you in a situation similar to the above cartoon or worse. If the EWP is moved, you will be pulled from the platform. So, just clip on to your approved anchor in your lift. If you don’t have training, get it before you step foot on that lift (P.S we can help you with that!). Even if you have all your tickets, be sure you are familiar with the operators manual and have been deemed competent by a supervisor. Then it should be smooth sailing!

Daylight Savings Time

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I’m all for more sunlight during daytime hours, however; daylight savings can really mess with you, especially when we spring ahead and lose a whole hour of sleep. Most of us are probably dragging our feet a bit today. It’s amazing how losing one little hour can really throw you off. For some of us, particularly if you have children, the effects of losing this hour could last all week. Fatigue can cause a reduction is reaction time, performance, and the ability to make sound decisions, thereby, increasing the chances of an incident to occur. So even though it seems like one measly hour, it can have serious effects. Here are a few things you can do to make it through the day and the week, if needed.

Try and eat healthy regular meals and snacks. At coffee break, maybe forgo the cigarette and donut for a healthy snack and water. Try and avoid heavy and fatty foods, they will just weigh you down more. Eating every 3-4 hours will help keep you moving. Speaking of moving, you need to do just that. If you have to go for a 5 minute walk to get blood flowing again, then do it. Maybe this is the time to head to the tool crib or wash cart. I know this sounds crazy but…try and avoid caffeine, yes coffee. I know you’re thinking that if you’re tired you should pound coffee all day, however; when the effects of coffee wear off, you will be even more exhausted than initially. If you can, try and get to bed a little earlier til you feel more alert.

For some of you, daylight savings time doesn’t affect you at all (lucky!) and some of us, especially the ones who have kids that fight this time change thing to the bitter, bitter end, either way, we all get sleepy at work sometimes. These tips are good for everyday.  Just remember the more alert you are the less likely you are to cause an injury or to be injured.