	Wednesday, April 04, 2012

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Seatbelts by Doug Wilcox

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At the 2012 Strategic Planning Sessions the topic of safety in the workplace became a big discussion item one day. Everyone in attendance had a safety story to tell, and everyone was very passionate about the topic of safety. As the conversation continued everyone felt that TXAPA should help include safety as a topic in its work for the TXAPA Membership. One thought was to include a safety article in the eTXAPA newsletter every month. Everyone liked the idea and they all committed to having their company safety officers contribute articles to the eTXAPA newsletter. For our first such article Doug Wilcox, EHS Director Ramming Paving and RTI Hot Mix/Materials, agreed to author an article. Below please find Mr. Wilcox’s article on Seatbelts. I want to thank Ramming Paving and RTI Hot Mix/Materials for allowing Mr. Wilcox time out of his busy schedule to write the article below, and I want to thank Mr. Wilcox for jumping right in and producing a great article to help kick off this new addition to the eTXAPA newsletter.

Maybe I am showing my age but some of us can remember when seatbelts were either non-existent or were an option in over the road vehicles and completely unheard of on mobile construction equipment. That is definitely not the situation, as we all know seatbelts are required by law for on road vehicles; but what about mobile construction equipment?

OSHA states in its standard (1926.602) for the construction industry that seatbelts shall be provided for all mobile construction equipment with a rollover protection system (ROPS). The rationale for this is basically the same as for on road vehicles. That is to say, that by remaining secured using a seatbelt inside the vehicle or within the protection zone of the ROPS the operator is much less likely to incur serious harm than if unsecured. This has been and continues to be, a concept that is difficult for many field operators to believe. I suspect that there are various reasons for this:Operators get in a hurry to do their work and just forget to buckle up.

Operators have not developed the seatbelt use habit because the employer’s culture has not pushed the use of seatbelts.
Some operators believe that they are safer by jumping off a moving piece of equipment rather than staying buckled up.
Instead of wearing the belt snuggly around the lap some operators wear the belt such that it fits loosely across the upper legs thinking that this is OK or to give the impression that they are buckled in.

In our company, the use of seatbelts is mandatory when the machine is in motion. Even when not in motion the operators are encouraged to keep the belts fastened. The reasoning for this is that the machine could be struck by other traffic operating in the work zone or by vehicles that may intrude into the work zone. It is better for the operator to be secured than to be thrown from the equipment if struck.

One mechanism that we use to help in our internal seatbelt compliance efforts is to use a florescent orange seatbelt. The orange color can be seen from a distance making it easier to verify that the operator is indeed wearing his/her seatbelt. Our Company has been reinforcing the concept of seatbelt use over the past several months and will soon begin to discipline employees found not using their seatbelts. As one of our managers so aptly stated "I would rather terminate an employee who is alive and well than bury an employee who we let disregard a safety practice".

One last thing... an often overlooked fact regarding seatbelts is that they need to be replaced at some frequency regardless of how good the belt looks. Most construction seatbelts need to be replaced every three to five years per the manufacturer’s recommendations. Check your owner’s manual and BUCKLE UP!

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