safety on the job, working alone

[sparkyice]

i apolgize for posting a topic like this on a fishing forum, but i know alot of the guys here work in the trades.

i'm an industrial electrician for a fortune 500 company, and the concensus among the guys i work with is that we should always work with a partner. it's a safety concern.

there are places in our facility that, if something happened, we would not be missed until our attendance percentage got flagged by the computer or someone went to check on the smell generated by a rotting corpse. seriously.

osha has some specific rules for narrowly defined circumstances, but generally allows work to be performed alone. i beleive some insurance companies require two people on any given job.

so, i'd like to ask the other factory maintenance guys out there what their facility regs are concerning this subject, and what they feel would be the best practice.

 

you don't see bumper stickers on boats that say "i'd rather be working".

 

thanks,

joe

 

[LongLine]

No need to apologize Joe.  Everyone needs to remember to be safe.  If you get hurt on the job, it'll probably take you away from family and fishing for a while.  Definitely not worth it.

 

Tom B.

(LongLine)

[rolmops]

In the highway department of the town of Brighton it is the general rule never to work alone.(Union Shop)

In factory maintenance there should be a lot of lock-out tag-out and confined space ,which requires permits and lots of other good stuff. Unless Osha or Pesha are ignored it is hard to not have constant check back with other team members

Edited March 21, 2013 by rolmops

[randy111]

I have been in electrical maintenance my entire career. Working alone is not dangerous in my opinion depending on the task. Are you replacing a limit switch on a piece of machinery or are you closing a 120kv primary. Different situations call for different practices. If you do not feel safe doing something bring it up to your supervisor. I would not say an electrician has to be paired up doing routine maintenance following all safety procedures. But again not every task is a one man job sometimes it takes many people. I have worked for a couple very large manufacturing plants and safety is always first priority. Safety should always be your first priority.

[Has Been]

I am a carpenter contractor & work alone a lot. I have often wondered what would happen if somthing bad hapened, like falling off a lader or having somthing heavy fall on me. I keep my cell in my pocket.

 

 I fish the tribs alone during winter cold for years. Fell in once at sub zero . My cloths were frozen  to me by the time I got climbed the cliff & got back to the truck. About as cold as I have ever been.

 

 I have had 2 near death experiences .  I  try to live a good life , so I figure I am never alone, If you get my drift.

[larry]

At Kodak and now at CNSE and the "Lone Operator Policy" in both places is to notify security that you'll be working alone and where you will be at then you are required to call in every hour, no call and they come looking for you.  This would be a good a practice for a lot of circumstances, hunting, fishing, shopping also have your kids to check in as well.