Snowplow Safety
This article is from RISQ Consulting’s Zywave client portal, a resource available to all RISQ Consulting clients. Please contact your Benefits Consultant or Account Executive for more information or for help setting up your own login.
As the operator of a snowplow, it’s crucial to recognize the approaching winter weather and understand that cities and municipalities will rely on your skills to clear snow and ice from their roadways. While snowplows are valuable winter tools, it falls on you to ensure their safe operation.
Read on for more information on the safe operation of snowplows, and prepare for a winter season that prioritizes both efficiency and safety.
Snowplow Safety Tips
Operating snowplows in wintry conditions can present several risks. Here are safety tips to consider when using them to help ensure your and others’ safety:
- Get a good night’s sleep. This promotes heightened alertness, better decision-making, reduced fatigue and increased safety on treacherous winter roads.
- Review your route to be ready for steep hills, intersections, sharp turns, narrow streets, changes in surfaces and other potential hazards (e.g., speed bumps, low limbs, railroad tracks, mailboxes, utility covers).
- Perform a pre-trip inspection on your vehicle. Inspect the brakes, lights, wipers, tires, spreader and auger, defroster, mirrors and other safety features.
- Ensure your snowplow is properly equipped with emergency supplies such as a first-aid kit, radio, cellphone, flashlight, shovel, flares, reflective vest, blanket, food and drinking water.
- Enter and exit the snowplow’s cab safely using the three points of contact method (i.e., face the vehicle and keep one foot and two hands or two feet and one hand on the vehicle at all times).
- Stay alert when driving, watch your speed, wear a safety belt, use turn signals, and follow all applicable traffic laws while being patient with other drivers and pedestrians.
- Know where to safely pile the snow; avoid placing it in high-traffic areas as it could melt and refreeze, creating slippery black ice, and avoid blocking fire hydrants, fire lanes and drains.
- Avoid pushing snow off bridges or overpasses, as it can fall on cars or people below. Consider how windy conditions may affect visibility and where to pile snow.
- Routinely check your mirrors and blind spots, look for closely following vehicles and scan the area for stalled cars, pedestrians, animals or children playing on snow piles.
- Make sure to pay attention to parked cars and mailbox locations in residential areas so as not to hit these objects when clearing the sides of the streets.
- Stop periodically to clear ice and snow from your lights and windows and ensure the plow shoes are adjusted for various surfaces.
- Pull over on the side of the road if you need to report an accident or emergency to avoid distracted driving.
- Remember to set the brakes and disengage the power to the spreader and plow before exiting the cab.
- Never drink alcohol or use other drugs prior to heading out to plow snow.
- Drive defensively when operating a snowplow to prevent accidents from occurring.
For more safety information, contact your supervisor.
- Published in Blog
Understanding How Habits Work to Influence Safety
This article is from RISQ Consulting’s Zywave client portal, a resource available to all RISQ Consulting clients. Please contact your Benefits Consultant or Account Executive for more information or for help setting up your own login.
As an employer, safety is your responsibility, and it’s important to identify workplace hazards and instill safe employee habits to ensure corrections remain permanent. One way to accomplish this is through behavioral observation, as it can help identify unsafe acts and conditions within a workplace, giving employers insight into potentially dangerous work habits. This article discusses how habits are created, how to change employee habits and ways to identify which behaviors need to change.
Understanding Habits
Habits can be formed in two ways: Through a traumatic psychological experience—such as accidentally touching a hot stove and learning never to do it again—or through repetitive actions the brain turns into automatic function. According to the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, habits make up approximately 40% of human behavior. In terms of workplace safety, it can be difficult to unlearn bad habits employees have formed.
One technique used for creating good habits is known as the “Habit Loop,” in which each behavior within the loop works to form a habit. There are three components that comprise the Habit Loop: A cue, a routine and a reward. For example, getting into a car (the cue), putting on a seatbelt (the routine) and not getting a ticket from the police (the reward) is an example of a Habit Loop. Managers can capitalize on this strategy to help employees form new habits or change old ones.
How to Change Employee Habits
Bad habits can easily become routine if previous outcomes of the action have not been negative. By the time a company notices, the unhealthy behavior may already be ingrained within the worker. To change unsafe habits and mitigate negative outcomes, it’s important to understand which Stage of Change a worker is in.
The Stage of Change theory suggests that a lack of motivation, willpower or confidence may not be to blame when it comes to someone’s inability to change—but rather that someone may not be ready to change or may not recognize that they need to. Understanding a worker’s readiness to change may be the key to determining how to approach moving them along the stages of change. The following are the stages of change and how employers can influence an employee at that stage:
- Pre-contemplation—At this stage, employees are unaware a problem or risk exists. To influence someone at this stage, it’s important to educate and bring awareness to the problem or concern.
- Contemplation—The contemplation stage refers to employees who are starting to consider or thinking about making a change. Continued education and ongoing opportunities for self-evaluation can help employees in this stage.
- Preparation—At this point, employees have decided to make a change in order to move into a new situation. This is an easy phase to get stuck as employees may be unwilling or unable to make the initial step to change. To help employees in this stage, it’s important to evaluate employees on an individual level and determine their intrinsic motivation. Focus on the person, not the company’s wants or needs.
- Action—Here, an employee may start to change their environment, behavior or experience. Managers should provide encouragement, recognition and ongoing positive reinforcement during this stage.
- Maintenance—Now that change has happened and become part of a normal routine, employees may be able to experience the positive outcomes of their actions. It’s important to continue to acknowledge and reinforce the positive change.
How to Identify Which Behaviors to Change
Unsafe behavior must first be identified in order to be corrected. Some ways to determine if behaviors should change include behavioral safety audits and accident investigation reports. After a problem is identified, the employer can work to adjust the behavior causing the safety issue. Once an issue is found and addressed, the employer should follow up to ensure the changes are being followed. By prioritizing follow-up on behavior issues, a workplace can start seeing improvements in practices and possibly a reduction in injuries.
Conclusion
Habits can be hard to break. However, with the proper approach, managers can alter unsafe workplace behavior and create a safer working environment. For more risk management guidance, contact us today.
- Published in Blog