Guide to Skid Steer Loaders
There are many reasons you might need a piece of heavy equipment in your business. From executing construction tasks to …
Jun 14, 2022
13 MIN READ
You’ll find heavy equipment used on practically all construction projects across America. From large roadbuilding projects to residential homebuilding, heavy construction equipment is necessary to build and maintain the nation’s infrastructure — and staying safe when working around heavy equipment is vital.
If you work with or around heavy construction equipment, you’ll have a healthy respect for what these powerful machines can do. Whether you’re around a large excavator on a commercial construction site, working with a grader in the roadbuilding industry or operating a skid steer on a residential renovation project, you need to be aware of what your equipment is capable of. That includes what it’s capable of doing to you.
Heavy construction equipment can be dangerous when not used properly, but most workers perform daily duties uninjured. That’s because they’re aware of dangers associated with equipment operation, and they take steps to mitigate potential accidents. These astute operators and helpers truly appreciate the importance of heavy equipment safety.
You can’t over-emphasize heavy equipment safety importance. The United States Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) cites the construction industry as one of the most dangerous occupations in America. OSHA statistics report that 4,693 workers were fatally injured on the job in 2016. Of those, 21.1%, or 991 workers, were killed on construction projects. That’s one in five American workers who died due to accidental injuries while working around construction equipment.
According to OSHA, there are four main causes of death and injury to construction workers. OSHA refers to these as the “fatal four” that accounted for two-thirds of all fatal accidents. OSHA further states that eliminating the fatal four accidental causes would save approximately 631 American workers’ lives every year. The fatal four accident causes are:
Lessons learned from OSHA investigations indicate that almost all accidents concerning heavy equipment operation were preventable. Working with state and local partners, OSHA changed direction from an enforcement-based safety approach to educational assistance. With combined efforts of government regulators and private forces like employers, unions and safety experts, American worker fatalities have dropped from 38 deaths per day in 1970 to an average of 14 a day in 2016.
Clearly, people across the construction industry recognized the importance of heavy equipment safety. They also decided to take action and improve conditions on construction sites. That included educating workers and providing them with detailed safety tips. One of the most important focuses was to eliminate, mitigate and reduce hazards for those working around heavy equipment.
While falls and electrocutions are leading injury causes on construction sites, being struck by objects and caught in-between mechanical components and materials pertain more to heavy equipment operation than general site conditions. The key to preventing or reducing equipment-related injuries is to mitigate potentially dangerous conditions and make all workers aware of their situation.
Situational awareness is an all-encompassing term describing worker alertness and knowledge of their job site surroundings. There are three primary principles for defining and identifying worksite hazards. It’s critically important for all workers to be aware of these hazard categories:
All heavy construction equipment has moving parts. It’s the energy stored and being capable of releasing from machinery parts that present danger. When not in motion, most machines are relatively stable and safe. It’s when they’re operating that they have enormous power and the capability of doing severe damage.
When working around machines, watch for moving parts that can reach people. Also, machinery and equipment that can eject objects and strike someone can be dangerous. Common mechanical hazards include rotating shafts, colliding surfaces, scissor or shear action, sharp edges and detachable connections. Risks associated with mechanical hazards are entanglement, crushing, severing, cutting and puncturing as well as slips and falls when dodging moving components.
Not all heavy equipment hazards come from components in motion. Almost all machines have stored energy waiting for release. That can be gasses or fluids under pressure, electrical charges and hot surfaces. Worker hazards from non-mechanical means also include noxious substances like exhaust emissions and chemical by-products. As well, consider the noise hazard that heavy equipment operation generates.
Situationally aware workers always assess their machinery for non-mechanical hazard potential. They realize how heavy equipment affects the area or environment around them. Common non-mechanical hazards are:
Health risks from non-mechanical hazards include burns, lung damage and long-term increased risk of cancer-related diseases.
Many workplace injuries and deaths happen because workers have unsafe access around machinery paths. Without safe access to and from a particular point, workers become accidentally trapped and exposed to mechanical and non-mechanical hazards. Being caught in-between dangerous components or struck by objects is avoidable by proper planning, placing safeguards and raising workers’ situational awareness.
Important considerations for mitigating access hazards are considering who is allowed into a hazardous area or situation and what equipment and materials are in operation. Access control must be predicted and planned in advance rather than reacting to an unexpected situation. The most effective solution for minimizing access accidents is effectively communicating all information concerning mechanical and non-mechanical heavy equipment hazards.
Hazard mitigation involves a series of orders for controlling potentially dangerous situations. If at all possible, hazards should be eliminated altogether or at least substituted by something less dangerous. If that’s not possible, then risk controls are necessary to prevent or reduce the chance of harm or injury. Workplace health and safety regulations make it mandatory to communicate workplace hazards and risk controls. Laws require hazard communications be applied in what’s called the “highest order.”
High-order risk controls immediately communicate safety cautions. Examples of high order communication are non-mistakable signage that clearly identifies existing hazards and prescribes safe actions for workers exposed to them.
Lower-order hazard controls communicate precautions necessary for workers to be safe around potentially dangerous equipment. Prescribing the right personal protective equipment is a lower order communication tactic. So is stipulating safe workplace behaviors like de-energizing equipment and locking out activation devices.
Administrative controls are part of the hazard communication order chain. This involves detailed instructions for safe operation and exposure reduction such as standard operating procedures (SOPs). Verbal communication like toolbox meetings is another effective form of administrative controls for accident prevention.
Many workplaces use administrative controls to pass on safety tips to workers. Effective safety programs are all-inclusive and involve workers at all levels from equipment operators to those working around them. It’s through communicating safety tips and reinforcing the importance of heavy equipment safety that situational awareness improves. Then, the risk of being a fatal four statistic dramatically drops.
Staying safe around heavy equipment is everyone’s business. So is sharing information on construction equipment safety tips. The best companies with the strongest safety records have a corporate culture where safety is the way they do business. They’ve built their safety record on a behavioral-based approach where they allow workers to commit to safety rather than being merely compliant to regulations.
Safety-minded cultures encourage all workers to identify barriers to safety and work as a team to remove them. They communicate all workplace hazards and educate workers on hazards around construction machinery as well.
It’s an ongoing process to identify and control job site hazards. Often, situations change on a site as work progresses, and it’s important to communicate evolving conditions. However, there are many situations where workers face the same hazards from day to day. Here are some of the proven and reliable safety tips that benefit all those working around heavy equipment:
There are dozens of different heavy machinery categories and hundreds of different equipment types. Most of the safety tips apply to all machine operations, but there are some tips more applicable to specific machines than others. Properly trained operators will be familiar with quirks surrounding exact equipment pieces. It’s handy for those not officially trained but still employed around construction equipment to know safety tips for specific machinery. Here are the most common construction machines and some more tips:
Excavators are used across the entire construction industry. Most construction excavators are track-equipped, but some have rubber tires. Excavators come in a vast size range from mini-machines used in tight places up to huge machines capable of moving many yards of material per bucket. If operating or working around an excavator, remember to:
Skid Steer Loaders are versatile and highly-maneuverable equipment that are indispensable for small and medium-sized material moving. Skid steers are fairly easy to operate and have a short learning curve. However, skid steer loaders are powerful machines that can cause serious injury if disrespected. For safety around skid steers, remember to:
Motor Graders are common on construction sites, especially where road building and clearing operations exist. No machine can replace a grader for smoothing, beveling and angling finished grades. But, motor graders are hazardous if not handled correctly. A few tips specific to graders are:
Bulldozers are powerful earthmovers and highly useful for pushing massive material amounts around worksites. Like all heavy equipment, bulldozers have their peculiarities. Bulldozer safety tips include:
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Compactors come in many configurations. They include regular soil compactors, pneumatic rollers, tandem vibratory rollers and landfill compactors. Nothing packs material for foundation and roadbed building like a mechanized compactor. If working with or around compactors, remember to:
Holt of California is one of an elite group of Cat® Equipment dealers. We feature a wide range of new, used and rental construction equipment and have an extensive selection of Cat heavy equipment to serve every purpose.
At Holt, we focus on safe equipment operation. Part of our customer service is a Safety Leadership Assessment where industry leaders rate on four key skills including trust, accountability, connectedness and credible consciousness. Caterpillar Equipment Training Solutions is another first-rate service we offer.
Feel free to browse our Holt construction equipment on our website. For excellence in heavy equipment and safe worksite operation, call Holt of California today at 888-492-2394. You can also reach us through our online contact form.