Equipment World Digital Magazine
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/605412
December 2015 | EquipmentWorld.com 50 panies, partners and projects, and a safety stand down was conducted. Ruggles estimated the total cost to be around $1,000. During the hazard investigation the company also learned that the potential for unexpected release of stored energy existed in other places and devices not normally considered. This is the kind of information that has to be passed around peer to peer, says Ruggles. "Tell your buddies. Don't be shy about sharing this stuff. It might save lives," he says. Z ero-dark thirty is a time of day all too familiar to construction workers. And at Schlouch Incorpo- rated, Blandon, Pennsylvania, when the day begins in total darkness, the equipment yard is an area where dozens of vehicles and people may be rushing around to get the day started. When a truck driver casually mentioned to Kevin Reimert, fl eet coordinator for Schlouch, "Somebody's going to get run over in this yard," Reimert didn't waste time rectifying the situation. He made it mandatory that everybody wear refl ective safety gear in the yard, insti- tuted a 5-mph speed limit and commissioned a lighting plan that eliminated any dark spots in the area. F alls from equipment are the No. 1 source of injuries in the heavy construction arena. Traylor Bros., Evansville, Indiana, wanted to do something about it. Despite good access systems on most OEM equipment, Traylor fl eet managers thought they could do better. The company researched the relevant regs in the OSHA 1926 standard, says Adam Ralph, fl eet main- tenance engineer. Starting with its cranes, Traylor applied the most rigorous interpretation of the recom- mendations in OSHA 1926. They beefed up the hand- rail systems, put fi berglass grip strips on platforms and painted all the leading edges of platforms yellow. "We drew attention to the hazards if we couldn't get rid of them," says Ralph. The total cost per machine was $3,320 and about six hours of labor, says Ralph. Since implementation the incident rate has gone down and the program has im- proved morale among the operators, he says, because they know now their incident reporting isn't falling on deaf ears. The company will continue to study the feasibility of access point upgrades for other models of equipment. maintenance | continued DRIVER'S TIP LEADS TO LIGHTING OVERHAUL OF YARD. 3 EQUIPMENT MODS CUT RATE OF SLIPS, TRIPS AND FALLS. 4 D E S I G N E D F O R Y O U . B U I LT T O L A S T. R READY TO SPEC YOUR CUSTOM TRAILER? REQUEST A QUOTE ONLINE OR CALL US TODAY. W W W . X L S P E C I A L I Z E D T R A I L E R . C O M | 8 7 7 . 2 8 3 . 4 8 5 2 HEAVY HAUL TRAILERS CUSTOMIZABLE TO FIT YOUR REQUIREMENTS