Shutdown Season – Part 1

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.