Landscaper Job Site Safety Tips
The busy summer months are here, and there’s no better time to make job site safety a priority. We dive in to some landscaper job site safety tips to help you prevent heat illness.
As we head into the busy summer months and more people want to enjoy the outdoors, job site safety should be top of mind. With busier workdays and higher temperatures comes the potential for more accidents on the job, and it’s important to help your employees feel safe. In addition to creating a general safety plan for your landscape business, we’ve outlined some more landscaper job site safety tips that are helpful in warmer weather:
Prevent Heat Illness
Heat-related illness and heat stroke become more likely as temperatures start to rise during the summer. Heat-related illness can be caused by both physical labor and the outside temperature. There are a couple things you can do to prevent heat stroke:
- Drink water every 15 minutes to stay hydrated, even if you aren’t thirsty. Avoid sports drinks or caffeine as they won’t keep you as hydrated as plain water and you can sweat out a lot of water during the day when you’re in the sun.
- Take breaks in the shade or in air conditioning when possible.
- Lightweight clothing, including long-sleeved shirts, pants, and a loose hat, can help protect you from the sun and keep you cool. You can also dip a cloth in cold water and wear it around your neck.
- Wearing sunscreen and reapplying every 2 hours can give you extra protection from the sun and protect you from skin cancer.
Plan Your Workday
Another landscaper job site safety tip involves prioritizing your projects. When planning your work for the day, it helps to tackle the projects and tasks with the most manual labor in the mornings when the temperature is coolest, leaving less manual work for later in the day.
When It’s Really Hot
It’s also a good idea to have a job site safety plan for what to do on particularly hot days like those often experienced across the South during the summer months. If temperatures reach above a certain threshold, you may want to call it a day early in order to protect your crew.
Keep Equipment in Working Order
Being busy on the job can sometimes mean regular equipment inspections and maintenance fall through the cracks. But if you’ve got a lot of jobs to do, keeping your equipment in working order is key. Make sure you’re regularly inspecting your equipment at the end of the day to prevent any unnecessary downtime.
The busy summer months don’t have to be a safety hazard. With these tips, you’ll keep your crew safe in the sun and make the most of your workdays.
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