SportsTurf provides current, practical and technical content on issues relevant to sports turf managers, including facilities managers. Most readers are athletic field managers from the professional level through parks and recreation, universities.
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/120370
Facility&Operations By David Schlotthauer SAFETY and potential liabilities for sports turf managers W orking at Brigham Young universitY (BYu) we use mostly university students to help us do our jobs. We employ 350 to 400 students from May to October and employ 100 to 150 students from November to April. On average a student works for our department for about 12 weeks, resulting in a high turnover. This requires us to have a stringent training program in place including a Safety Program; we are constantly in training mode. Even with as much training as we provide our student employees, accidents still happen. Here is an example of a serious accident that happened on my turf crew. My crew was asked to use a Soil Reliever featuring ¾ inch solid tines on the skinned area of our softball field. We started our runs from the third base side of the infield, near the fence, and made our run to the infield edge in right field. We would back the machine up and start another run next to the just completed run, each run moving closer to the 20 SportsTurf | April 2013 home plate area. We had an equipment operator and a spotter to assist in backing the machine up to the fence along the third base line. On one of the runs about halfway through the job, as the machine backed up with the spotter standing directly behind it in the pinch area, the operator went to start another run but the machine was still in reverse. The consequence of the oversight was the spotter being trapped between the fence and the Soil Reliever, with resulting injuries of a broken right leg and a tine going through the instep of his left foot. As we started the project I stayed and watched to make sure my workers doing the job correctly. I watch them make several runs and the spotter always stood to the side of the machine as it was back up for the next run, the operator had no problems in operating the tractor safely. The accident occurred when both the operator and the spotter had a lapse in judgment. INVESTIGATION TRIGGER The accident triggered an Occupational Safety Health Administration (OSHA) in- vestigation. The two workers involved in the accident were questioned as was I. I had to show training records for the two individuals and we had to demonstrate that we could operate the equipment in question safely. The finding of the OSHA investigation was a $5,000 fine levied against the BYU for having an inconsistent training program. BYU's cost for the employee's medical treatment came to about $150,000. Could this accident have been prevented? Yes. Most accidents happen because the employee gets complacent in doing a job over and over and forgets to think about safety; instead, he thinks "It will never happen to me." So how can we prevent accidents in the future? Believe it or not the answer is OSHA. Why OSHA? Quoting from their website: "With the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, Congress created the OSHA to assure safe and healthful working conditions for working men and women by setting and enforcing standards and by providing training, outreach, education and assistance. OSHA's core mission is to ensure a safe and healthy workplace for every working man and woman in the Nation." Maintaining a safe workplace environment is good common sense and it's the law. Here is a fictional case study: Let's say you have an employee suffer a work-related, serious injury. The law states you must report the accident to OSHA within 48 hours which includes Saturdays and Sundays. If you fail to report the accident on time or at all you will be DAVID SCHLOTTHAUER, sports turf manager, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT. www.sportsturfonline.com