safety

[stslawncare]

hey guys wondering how many of u take road side saftey into consideration? how many of u guys use cones when at a jobsite? how many of them? what size? any of u use those signs that say landscapers at work or anything? any of u wear orange vests? how about oranage strobes or hazards on the trucks? where do u guys purchase ur saftey equip at?

[Craig Turf Management]

Scottie,
I use cones when parking on the side of the road. I've got three of them. One I place about 20 feet behind my trailer(if I can), and the other two closer to the gate. I should probably do more. Thanks for making me think of it.
Bill!

[kutnkru]

I use a series of cones that are placed three paces behind the gate, back bumper, front bumper, three paces in front of truck. I have strobe lights mounted to the feneders of the trailers as well.

I have only seen one other company with a one-tone dumpbed that has a strobe attached to the side of the bed at the top for safety. A couple other LCOs use cones but noone else Ive seen uses the warning lights.

As a volunteer FF I place my order thru our dept when they order their supplies as I need something.

Kris

[stslawncare]

i have that option also as a volunteer. do u guys use full size cones with the reflective tape?

[kutnkru]

I have an older set that I gave a couple bucks to the Dept for with the tape, but I only use them this time of year when its dark at noon -LOL!!!

I think that the full sized orange cones are just as effective during the rest of the season. I would not recommend the smaller cones and think the 3' ers are overkill.

Kris

[gusbuster]

On most of the residential streets I work on, traffic is slow. So no need to wear,put cones or use my amber lights. However, in one paticular area I use all three due to poor visibilty. (heavy fog) Does it slow down people? Naw! At least if any of us get hit, can't say I wasn't following CA O.S.H.A and state transportation codes.

As to where I get my stuff, strobe light @ local highway saftey store. Cones, picked them up at the dumps, put on reflective tape. I use both a hooded safety orage sweat shirt or reflective vest during warmer weather.

John

[mdb landscaping]

i use three cones behind the trailer, and if im on a really busy street, i will put the strobes on. i think its a good idea to use cones. just another precaution.

[Runner]

3 Full size cones are used here. They ride right in the very back of the trailer, on the driver's side. When the gate comes down, they are the first things to come out. - the last thing to go on just before the gate closes. When I am just in a subdivision though, I don'y seperate them. I just put the stack out as one. This is placed right near the rear outside corner of the gate. The amount of distance out is always determined by the furthest point out of the truck.;)

[SCAPEASAURUSREX]

Scottie,

I use cones when ever I stop the truck to work.. Usually three out back , one at the front corner and one in the middle.. Sometimes 4 out back.. Never can be too safe.. People dont' seem to be too considerate of landscapers around here.. I think they try to hit us or scare us too.. LOL.. It seems they speed up when U put out the cones..

[JML]

We use about 4 or 5 cones, with the orange flags in them. Also all of our vehicles now, including trailers have hidden strobes in front and rear tail lights. people here in NJ are crazy. I don't think they do much because highway workers get hit all the time on major roads, even when they have hunderds of cones and strobes lights..

[dlandscaping]

a guy i work with has 2 cube vans and a f350 wth ezdump. we put a cone on the side around the back of the cubes and on busy streets one in front one in back and one in front of the f350 and on on top of the dump body. we usually park all three right next to eachother in a line.

[the point man]

Scottie dawg,

Here are a couple of sources for safety equipment:

www.gemplers.com (ask for a printed catalog. It's great. Lots
of Carhartt gear and other goodies, too)

Northern Tool & Equipment Company 1-800-556-7885

www.galls.com (probably the primo safety equipment catalog
around)

Also, you can see your city/town/village/county highway super-
intendant and ask him for some old catalogs; they usually have
stacks of good stuff.

Hint: when you buy safety equipment, label it all over, the stuff
seems to get legs quicker than a lot of other things.

[stslawncare]

being in the fire service i am a frequent shopper of galls, infact ordered some boots tonight from them. with building a trailer and working on my grandparents farm im also a frequent shopper of northern! i havent ordered from gemplers yet however. I was just curious as to what everyone elses ideas were on safety. i plan on purchasing cones soon, however i am not crazy about the big cones, nor do i like the small ones, guessing to get the medium rubber ones. also when i get my tractor back from dealer i plan on building a cab similar to erics and i plan on putting some flashers on it :-)

[SCAPEASAURUSREX]

Point man .. Good point about saftey equip having legs.. I think alot of people are just too lazy to go buy their own or have some sick fetish with orange cones.. Cant' figure that one out.. They are only $7 bucks each ... I made up stencils out of some plastic pieces.. and just lay them over everything, shovels , picks, barrels, mowers , cones, ramps, anything that 's not bolted down and spray paint them ...

[stslawncare]

yes i agree very good point, that is something i might do this winter when i clean all of my equipment is label them. thanks for the heads up.

[Guido]

also has their own catalog.

I still occasionally order from AW Direct, awesome customer service and a great catalog, even if you don't tow.

[TGCummings]

I really should put out a cone, and I'll look into that.

However, if I spend time putting down 3-6 cones every stop I'll have to raise my rates. Lawns are so small out this way that I'd spend more time setting up cones on some residential streets than time on the jobs. ;)

I do notice the utility companies put down only a single cone for their stops, so I guess one cone meets the standard in our area (at least residentially). I'll place my cone order right away...

-TGC