Write a toolbox talk on Construction, PPE, branded high vis why is important to avoid strangers on site

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# NIGHT WORK Date Posted: 05/09/2025 ## Night Work Night or evening work is often necessary in the construction industry. Sometimes, nighttime construction is scheduled because it can be more convenient. There is usually less traffic on the roads during night hours, which means work can proceed without interruptions. Additionally, workers are at a lower risk of heat-related illnesses like heatstroke when working on projects scheduled through the summer months. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), close to 15 million Americans work permanent night shifts or frequently rotate in and out of night shifts. This is especially true for those who work outdoors and near heavy equipment, as there are significant safety concerns to address and night-work safety precautions that everyone needs to be familiar with. However, night work may cause physical and social disruptions, such as sleep deprivation and disruption, a higher risk of injury from drowsiness, and affected family or social relationships. Therefore, it is crucial to take special precautions at the work site during night work, such as increasing visibility and being aware of your surroundings. ## HAZARDS OF NIGHT WORK Working the night shift can be risky, even if there are fewer cars on the road. Employees who work during the night must be cautious and alert to avoid various hazardous situations while working through the dark hours. Despite the added complexity of working at night, it's still possible to ensure the safety of your team. Here are some common hazards associated with working at night: Vehicles and Heavy Equipment: For individuals who work outside during nighttime hours, the most significant risk is being struck by a vehicle or heavy machinery. These types of accidents occur when a person is hit or run over by a car, truck, excavator, backhoe, or dump truck. Although struck-by incidents can happen during the day, they are more frequent at night due to certain factors including: • W…

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# HEAVY EQUIPMENT (cont.) ## SPOTTERS Worker visibility and visual and verbal communication are essential to keeping workers safe around moving construction equipment. Blind spots can be a significant hazard for workers on the ground where the operator is unable to see them. A spotter, using effective means of communication or hand signals, can help communicate between the operator, workers on the ground, and any pedestrians entering the work zone. Spotters must wear high-visibility clothing, stand clear of equipment, and always be visible to the equipment operator. ## GENERAL SAFETY WHEN OPERATING OR WORKING AROUND HEAVY EQUIPMENT • Develop a work zone traffic control plan. Indicate travel routes through the site to eliminate (as much as possible) the need for backing equipment or vehicles. • When vehicles or heavy equipment must operate in reverse, ensure they are equipped with an audible backup alarm. • Inspect equipment before operation to ensure all lights and audible alarms work correctly. • Set up the equipment in the work zone so that construction equipment and workers have adequate space to perform the planned tasks. • Use 3-point mounting and dismounting technique off heavy equipment - NEVER JUMP OFF HEAVY EQUIPMENT. • - Establish a "danger zone," the working area where contact could result in personal injury or damage during operations. • Wear high-visibility clothing when working around heavy mobile equipment. • Use predefined and understood hand signals or two-way radios to control movement within the work zone. • Maintain a clear line of sight between the operator and workers. • Use a spotter when heavy equipment is in motion. This requires communication between the operator and workers to maintain safe movement. • Workers - should keep a safe distance from all sides of the heavy equipment while it is in use. • Be aware of the swing radius on specific equipment and, if possible, cordon off the area with barriers or caution tape. • A…

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# PINCH POINTS Date Posted: 09/02/2016 A Pinch Point is produced when 2 objects come together and there is a possibility that a person could be caught or injured when coming in contact with that area. Pinch points commonly impact fingers/hands, but can impact any area of the body. The injury resulting from a pinch point could be as minor as a blister or as severe as amputation or death. Conveyors, gears, loaders, compactors and other moving equipment are examples of machinery with pinch points. ## COMMON CAUSES OF INJURIES FROM PINCH POINTS • Not paying attention to the location of hands and feet • Walking or working in areas with mobile equipment and fixed structures • Loose clothing, hair or jewelry getting caught in rotating parts or equipment • Poor condition of equipment and guarding - Dropping or carelessly handling materials or suspended loads • Not using the proper work procedures or tools • Reaching into moving equipment and machinery ## SAFETY CONTROLS FOR PINCH POINTS • Verify all guarding is in place and effective • Wear the appropriate personal protective equipment. Gloves, hi-vis clothing and heavy boots. • Identify potential pinch points before starting work by conducting a pre task inspection. • Stay in employee designated areas: Always make sure mobile equipment operators know your location. • Lockout/Tagout: Always verify electrical equipment is de-energized before starting any maintenance work • Alertness: Drowsiness leads to inattentive work habits and shortcuts • Operating manuals and work procedures: Always review the operating instructions/manuals before starting work; pinch points may also be identified in these documents. • Ensure all mobile equipment has working backup alarms and lighting before use. ## QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION • What are the most common sources of pinch points in your work area? • What improvements can be made to machine guarding? ## PRESENTER TIPS • Pre-read the Toolbox Talk. Your comfort level a…

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MIOSHA Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration ## Special points of interest: • Wear Hard Hats, Safety Glasses, and Work Boots on job sites. • Use face shields and goggles when safety glasses are not enough • Wear safety toe foot- wear when feet can be crushed by heavy objects # Tool Box Talk Personal Protective Equipment MIOSHA Construction Safety Standard Part 6. Personal Protective Equipment Employer: Shall provide, at no expense to the employee, the initial issue of personal protective equipment (PPE) and replacement equipment necessary due to reasonable wear and tear required, unless specifically indicated otherwise or other employer/employee agreement specifically requires employees to provide such equipment. Employee: An employee shall wear PPE when prescribed by the MIOSHA rules. ## Head protection (Hard Hat): . Class A hard hat shall be used where a hazard from falling or flying objects or particles or from other harmful contacts or exposures may be present • physically altered, painted, or damaged hard hats shall not be worn • Wear hard hat brim forward • Do not ware baseball hats underneath ## Eye and face protection: - Z87.1 safety glasses shall be used where a hazard exists from flying objects or particles, harmful contacts, such as when using power tools, hammers, and working over head. • An employee who needs corrective lenses where eye protection is required shall be protected by 1 of the following: (a) Spectacles whose protective lenses provide optical correction. (b) Goggles that can be worn over the corrective lenses without disturbing the adjustment of the spectacles. - Use goggles when working around dust, chemicals - Use face shields to protect face from particles, chemicals Face shields do not protect eyes from flying object high impacts, must use Z87.1 safety glasses underneath ## Foot protection: • Employee Provided / Employer must require • ANSI Z41-1999 or ASTM 2412 & 2413 certified footwear mu…

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(4) Employees must comply with job safety practices and proce- dures and PPE requirements that are relevant to the job site. (5) High visibility garments. (a) During daylight hours, when employees' duties are performed in close proximity to moving vehicles, you must make sure that employ- ees wear a high-visibility safety vest, shirt, or jacket that is fluo- rescent yellow-green, fluorescent orange-red, or fluorescent red in color. This garment must always be worn as an outer garment. ## Definition: - For the purpose of this rule, hours of darkness means from one- half hour before sunset to one-half hour after sunrise. (b) During hours of darkness, when employees' duties are per- formed in close proximity to moving vehicles, you must make sure that employees wear, at a minimum, a high-visibility safety vest, shirt, or jacket: • Designed according to ANSI/ISEA 107-1999 Class 2 specifica- tions; - Worn as an outer garment; • - AND Note: - Worn to provide 360 degrees of visibility around the employee. A high-visibility garment meets Class 2 specifications if the garment: • Has an ANSI "Class 2" label; OR • Has at least 775 square inches of background material and 201 square inches of retroflective material that encircles the torso and is placed to provide 360 degrees of visibility around the employee. • Fading and soiling may degrade the high-visibility characteristics of the garments. ANSI/ISEA 107-1999 is available by: Purchasing copies of ANSI/ISEA 107-1999 by writing: -American National Standards Institute [redacted street address] New York, NY [redacted postal code] OR - Contacting the ANSI website at http://web.ansi.org/. OR Note: • Reading a copy of ANSI/ISEA 107-1999 at any Washington state library. (6) Payment for PPE. Except as provided in (a) through (e) of this subsection, the protective equipment, including PPE, used to com- ply with this chapter must be provided by the employer at no cost to employees. (a) You are not required to pay fo…

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# HIGH VISIBILITY CLOTHING FOR HEAVY & HIGHWAY CONSTRUCTION (cont.) ## Workers Must Be Seen ## Fatalities Total 305 985 According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), "The most common 15 event associated with fatal occupational injuries incurred at a road construction site was worker struck by vehicle, mobile equipment. Of the [redacted street address] construction sites during the 2003-07period, 305 were due to a worker being struck by a vehicle or mobile equipment." The BLS 70 article further reports that more workers are struck and killed by construction 177 equipment (38 percent) than by cars, vans and tractor-trailers (33 percent). As such, work zone "runovers" and "backovers" are clearly the greatest hazard to roadway construction workers and, by far, the leading cause of death. 23 The use of high visibility clothing is one important strategy in reducing the number of "struck-by" deaths on road construction sites. 73 Dump Truck Pickup Truck Semi Truck Car Roller/Paver Grader/Planer/ Van Backhoe Scraper # HIGH VISIBILITY CLOTHING FOR HEAVY & HIGHWAY CONSTRUCTION ## Standards and Regulations Several agencies of the federal U.S. government have specific standards and guidance with regards to the wearing of high vis- ibility clothing, including the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Federal Highway Admin- istration. These agencies most commonly reference an industry consensus standard issued by the International Safety Equipment Associa- tion (ISEA) and the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). This is known as the ANSI/ISEA 107 Standard or "American National Standard for High Visibility Safety Apparel and Headwear." ## ANSI/ISEA 107 This standard provides performance criteria for the materials to be used in high visibility PPE, specifies minimum areas and, where appropri- ate, recommends placement of the materials. Performance requirements focus on the color and brightness of garments and headwear relative to the work e…

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# HIGH VISIBILITY CLOTHING FOR HEAVY & HIGHWAY CONSTRUCTION (cont.) ## OSHA (cont.) SLOW 20-901 am Class I Vest: Not acceptable for road construction work. Class II Vest: Most commonly used in road construction. Class III Ensemble: For low-light and high-hazard conditions # HIGH VISIBILITY CLOTHING DEFINED High visibility garments can be defined as clothing designed to make the wearer more visible-particularly to vehicular traf- fic-and contain design properties making the wearer discernible against their work environment. They are considered personal protective equipment (PPE) in the work environment. High visibility clothing will carry an ANSI/ISEA label explaining garment charac- teristics including the name, trademark, or other means of identify- ing the manufacturer or authorized representative; a designation of the product type or commercial name; the number of this specific ANSI/ISEA standard (ANSI/ISEA 107); a pictogram showing the garment Class and Level of performance for the retroreflective material, and care labeling. High visibility garments generally have two design criteria: back- ground fabric and retroreflective tape. The garment is composed primarily of a high-quality fluorescent fabric in colors including fluorescent yellow/green, fluorescent orange-red and fluorescent red. Retroreflective tape is added to areas such as the arms, torso and waist so as to identify the wearer as a "person" as opposed to a traffic control device such as a drum or sign. The fluorescent fabric is used to make the wearer more visible in daylight hours, particularly in twilight conditions. The retroreflective tape makes the wearer more visible at night and during low- light conditions as the tape reflects back light from motorists' headlights. While vests are convenient, recent research has concluded that garments with high visibility material on the ends of the limbs are the most effective way to enhance nighttime conspicuity. In the United States, most gove…