For many people hearing about plant safety is like hearing about eating right and getting exercise. Everyone knows it’s important, but how many actually do something about it?
National Asphalt Pavement Association (NAPA) members consider safety an important issue and many are doing plenty about it. They are taking innovative steps to enhance existing safety programs.
At E & B Paving Inc., IN, back-up alarms on trucks are standard procedure. But the alarms sound so often that they can become background noise and get ignored. So at several company sites, E & B Paving has gone beyond the standard procedures and has installed rear-view cameras on many pieces of equipment.
“The workers like being able to see areas that were blind spots before,” said Steve Henderson, director of Regulatory Affairs of the company. “Congested areas like the stockpiles need to be visible from more than one angle.”
Henderson would like to add to the visibility at night as well.
“I’m interested in installing high-intensity strobe lights on the loaders for night work linked to the backup alarm,” he said. “Because fatigue can be a factor at night, we need that extra visibility. I also want to look at the use of proximity alarms, and other warning systems that use ultrasound or radar.”
Joe Marrone is the Asphalt Division manager of Tilcon-Connecticut. His division had cameras and intercom systems installed at 12 of the plants. For Marrone, an important safety strategy is keeping drivers in their trucks as much as possible. This prevents them from being injured walking through high traffic areas at the plant.
“We installed video cameras at the plants last year so that the operator in the plant control room can see the trucks at all times,” said Marrone. “That means that the drivers can stay in their trucks even when under the pug mill.”
The program has resulted in far fewer drivers getting out of their vehicles.
“Now the driver can contact the plant operator through the intercom system we have installed, get his load of hot mix and leave, all without getting out of the truck.”
Not only can plants be made safer through new equipment like video cameras, but the safety message must be regularly communicated to employees.
At Lane Construction’s plants, safety education usually begins with eight hours of training at the start of the paving season. This message is reinforced through a safety newsletter and safety slogans on paycheck stubs. Safety becomes a team project, since all employees at a location are rewarded if safety goals are met.
Individual companies owned by Lane Construction are able to participate in a special safety contest. If the company achieves 1 million man hours with no lost time from safety incidents, the company holds a drawing for employees to win a free pick-up truck.
Virginia Paving, headquartered in Loudoun County, VA, is owned by Lane Construction. It took Virginia Paving three years to reach the magic 1 million number. At the appointed time, the company gathered the employees for a meal, held the drawing, and gave away a pick-up. Lane Construction also gave away another pick-up to an employee in a corporate-wide drawing when the entire company reached the mark of 1 million man hours.
“We are constantly thinking about what we can do to make things safer at the plants,” said Stuart Lott, the corporate safety manager of Lane.
The company runs approximately 80 asphalt plants during the paving season.
“The newsletters, slogans, and prizes help keep people focused on safety. At Lane, safety is a team-oriented effort, not just something handed down from top management.”
(Reprinted by permission of the National Asphalt Pavement Association from its “HMAT” magazine, May/June 2006.)
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