Safety Manual

[xtreem3d]

Hi Guys,
I have been asked to provide a safety manual , drug tests and background checks for a property that I maintain. Do any of you have a safety manual that you hand out to your employees ? If so, did you write it or find it online somewhere?
Thanks,
Steve

[orangemower]

Obviously you'd need to write it yourself. Most every business handles things differently. Just think of anything safety oriented and have your secretary type it up while you tell her what to type.

[xtreem3d]

Actually I was hoping not to have to write it, at least not the whole thing...that's why i posted on lawn forum and hardscape forums,
Steve

[xtreem3d]

Found this but I have to but it to see what's included
http://www.esafetymanual.com/lawn-ca...-safety-manual

[GreenI.A.]

I worked with my attorney on mine to be sure all of the bases were covered. Obviously it would be to expensive for my attorney to write the whole thing so I did most of it. I used existing ones I had from different companies I had worked for over the years and found a good amount online from google searches as well. I made an outline of what I wanted to cover and sent it to my attorney for his approval, he added a few topics to the outline. Then I worked on the meat of it and wrote it up. Once I was happy with it, I sent it to him, he reviewed it and made suggestions and then sent it back. We went back and forth like this till I was satisfied I had covered the basis and he was happy that we were covered legally.

Employee handbooks can be a blessing or a curse. While employees are often fired for violating the employee handbook, many employees can also use the books against the company when they are fired for a violation that is not in the handbook. If you are not going to seek an attorney for help, keep the hand book simple. There are many cases of companies being fined by the dept of labor, or sued by employees because the handbook listed rules in violation of the law.

We also receive a pretty good discount on our GL insurance for well detailed handbook. As well as discounts on Com Auto & GL for doing drug screening, criminal background & Credit check.

[xtreem3d]

I. A ... Do you do lawn and landscape also? PS why the credit check?

[xtreem3d]

PS do you have any knowledge of something like these
http://www.esafetymanual.com/lawn-ca...-safety-manual

[93Chevy]

Ah, this is right up my alley. Not only do I run a maintenance crew for a company, but I'm also their safety officer. The company that handles our payroll, Paychex, has a Safety and Loss division. They provided a safety manual for our company last year. In my free time at work, I've been going through the manual and developing training programs for employees.

I hold a 10-15 minute safety meeting every other week, covering topics that are in the safety manual and topics that employees ask me to cover.

If you do develop your own safety manual, make sure it covers chemicals, dangerous liquids, slipping and falling, back safety, driving, trailers, heat, cold, rain, yada yada yada. No specific order.

If you need help, feel free to PM me. Safety is my game. Surprisingly, I think I've done a good job at respecting older employees who know what they're doing, and helping the newer employees learn the ropes.

[GreenI.A.]

Originally Posted by xtreem3d

I. A ... Do you do lawn and landscape also? PS why the credit check?

Our main focus is irrigation, lighting, fert, soft & hardscape installs. But we do pretty much everything other than weekly maintenance. Thinking of starting up a maintenance crew next year as we could easily keep a crew busy from our existing customer base.

Why do we do a credit check? same reason most large companies and municipalities do them on prospective employees. The belief is that a person with poor credit may be more likely to fall into the temptation to steal from either the company or a client. We have many customers who live in houses worth in excess $5mill, many of them have given us garge door codes so that we can service irrigation and lighting components inside. There can be a lot of temptation there for certain people. Also with accidents, the belief is a person whith poor credit is more likely to exaggerate their injuries in order to get a pay day. There is also the belief that a person with poor credit has shown a history of poor decision making, if they do not make good financial decisions they may not make other good judgement decisions.

I'm not a firm believer of the thoughts above, one know of some great people with poor credit because they made some stupid mistakes years ago. If I ran my credit right now even I wouldn't look great because i have about 40k in medical bill sitting on creditcards while I wait for reimbursement from my health insurance. But the discount I get for running the checks greatly outways the cost of running the report. If I decide to hire someone with horrible credit and they end up stealing, my insurance can refuse to cover the full claim. Same as if I hire a person with a horrible driving record, and he causes an accident. Insurance will cover the other owners damage, but they may not cover the full damage to my property.

[GreenI.A.]

Also as far as safety manuals go, contact your insurance agent and carrier. My agent was more than happy to send me a few things he had that were more general construction safety related. But when I contacted my carrier they had more specific handouts and packets for different types of equipment and practices. Insurance companies are usually more than happy to provide anything they have access to that can prevent a claim.