Ensuring Workplace Safety: Expert Tips and Essential Equipment Insights

Ever wondered what truly keeps job sites safe and sound? This episode of "Live After Hours" is packed with essential insights and lively banter, starting from our fun check-in on what's in everyone's cup—I'm mixing things up with a rare Coca-Cola this time! Sporting my favorite BICSI T-shirt, we dive into an engaging round of reverse acronyms with Michael from the chat, making sense of terms like OSHA and VMS. The heart of our discussion centers around a LinkedIn follower's query about breaking into the cabling industry and the must-have safety gear for newcomers. We can't stress enough how context is key when asking safety questions, and we provide a tailored list of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to get started.

Navigating through different work environments, we share expert advice on obtaining and using PPE without breaking the bank—consulting your employer is crucial here. From hard hats to high-visibility clothing, we explain the specific needs of various settings, be it an office, construction site, or industrial area. Leading by example is highlighted as vital for fostering a robust safety culture on the job. For our fiber optic technicians, we've got you covered with tips on avoiding workspace hazards, proper ventilation, and critical eye protection from lasers. Clear instructions and safety meetings are non-negotiable to keep everyone on the same page about potential risks and emergency protocols. Tune in for a comprehensive guide on workplace safety that's both informative and engaging!

Chapters

• 0:00 Live After Hours
• 4:39 Workplace Safety Equipment and Attitude
• 16:46 Worksite Safety Guidelines and Tips

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Thursday night, 6 pm, Eastern Standard Time. You know that can only mean one thing Live after hours with Chuck Belzer RCDD, your favorite favorite RCDD. Don't even try to pretend like I'm not. We all know that you I am. So thursday night, 6 pm.

Speaker 1: 0:36

We always start off with what are you drinking, and I get this mark it down. Doesn't happen very often. I'm drinking a Coca-Cola, Coca-Cola. I'm usually drinking Zevia, but we're out of Zevia, so right now, all I'm drinking is Coca-Cola. Tell me in the chat box what are you drinking. Tell me in the TikTok feed what are you drinking? Man, that is sweet.

Speaker 1: 1:04

I'm wearing my favorite Bixie shirt today. If you know me, you know I love T-shirts with pockets, T-shirts with pockets, and it's a Bixie T-shirt. Yes, One of my favorite shirts. I think it's the best shirt they ever came out with. I truly do. Truly do so. Welcome, welcome.

Speaker 1: 1:22

Today's show is about safety. I've been getting a lot of safety questions. I've been stockpiling them and so I decided to go ahead and put them in there and do an entire show based on safety. Michael's in the house. Pepsi lover here, Nice, I like Pepsi too. We just happen to have Coke. I am not one of those aficionados where I drink Coke only or Pepsi only, Although if you ask my wife, it's Coke only. She's from Atlanta. Yeah, Guess where Coca-Cola is from? Yeah, Atlanta. But I can drink either, or it just kind of really all depends. It just all depends. So, like I said, tonight's show is about safety.

Speaker 1: 2:09

I did not do an acronym challenge. Um, let's do, let's do a reverse one. Let's do a reverse acronym challenge. You put an acronym in the chat box and let's see if I know it. Let's do a reverse acronym challenge. Put a acronym in the chat box and let's see if chuck knows it. Come on, let's see if you can do it. Come on, come on. Still waiting, still waiting for someone to try to stump me. I'll give you five seconds. Arc audio relay channel. Acronym s, slash S. I'm not sure what that one is. So, so, there you go, VMS. I do not know that one. I don't know VMS. Oh, we're going to figure that one out. So, uh, Michael, Michael, put in OSHA. That's simple Occupational safety and health administration or occupational safety and health act, depending on which one you're talking about there. So, video management system. There you go. Oh, VMS, oh, gotcha, gotcha, gotcha.

Speaker 1: 3:11

So, like I said, tonight's show is about safety. I've got it looks like five or six questions about safety. Now these are all from people who are kind of new to the industry, I think, or new to their position maybe, and they're just kind of dealing with it. Let me fix this a little bit. There we go Love this shirt, I love this shirt. So the first question kind of came to me via LinkedIn and the gentleman sent me the message said what safety equipment do I need to buy for my new position in cabling? Now they also sent me a backup.

Speaker 1: 3:48

If you ever send me a question, always send me a paragraph or two to kind of give me the background of why what you're really trying, Because you know general questions. I can go a bunch of different ways, so I want to make sure that I answer the question the way that fulfills your need for knowledge the most. So whenever you send me a question, always give me a paragraph or so to say you know, hey, here's why I want to know this, blah, blah, blah. Because, like I said, this questionnaire I could have gone different ways. So the first thing I'm going to tell this guy who said he wants to know what safety equipment should he need to buy for his new king position, he told me in his paragraph. He told me that he was coming from a different industry Sorry, my dogs are barking because mom is home. He was coming from a different industry and so he doesn't have any safety equipment. So here's my tips First. I'm going to give him a couple of tips first, and then I'll give him a minimum list of PPE.

Speaker 1: 4:39

First, check with the company that hired you. Okay, If you've already been hired which he has, he told me he has call them up and say hey, look, I need to know what PPE are you providing and what PPE do I need to provide for myself. That way you don't end up a duplicate, you don't end up buying something that they give you. For example, you don't end up going out and buying a hard hat and then find out they've got a specific company hard hat that they want to give you. Why spend your money if you don't have to? What you'll find is most companies will provide you with some, or maybe even most of all what you need for as far as PPE, the good companies will.

Speaker 1: 5:24

The second thing is what PPE you need really depends on specifically what type of environment you're going to be working in? Are you going to be working strictly in existing office space? Are you going to be working on construction sites? Are you going to be working in industrial? Or? I once did a project I did cabling in the steam tunnels of Washington DC. We'd have ice vests and a bunch of other stuff like that. Well, you don't need an ice vest if you're doing cabling inside an existing office space. So that kind of really depends. And then, third, there might be an additional layer of requirement of specific safety equipment that the general contractor might require you to have just to be able to work on their site. So, if you know what site you're going to be going, to Find out what equipment that they're going to require. But at minimum, here's, here's a here's five or six things that you really should have, whether you provide them or your company provides them.

Speaker 1: 6:21

Number one a hard hat. A hard hat, or sometimes, sometimes in existing offices, a lot of companies like to use what's called bump caps. They look like regular hats but they're made out of hard hats, so that way, if you go up in the ceiling, you don't hit your head bumping into something. So a hard hat. Keep in mind, though, hard hats. They have expiration dates. So always look on the inside. It'll tell you when they expire. I think it's two years or is it five years. It's one of those I can't remember which one off the top of my head, but they do expire. Also, don't put a bunch of stickers on your hardhats either. Right, the beard of knowledge is in. That's how you do a beard of knowledge Also.

Speaker 1: 7:00

Safety glasses, Now safety glasses, Now safety glasses. They're going to shield your eye from dust and debris and potential splashes and stuff as you're working on a job site. Safety glasses again. You can get prescription safety glasses. You can get regular safety glasses. Your company may provide you safety glasses. You might even get safety glasses specific for the function that you're doing. I'll talk about that more in just a minute.

Speaker 1: 7:27

Gloves, Now gloves. Yeah, I remember I wear gloves all the time working on the farm because I'm telling you I'm always cutting, banging, tearing something up, because gloves will protect your hands from things like abrasions and cuts and even electrical hazards. But when I used to work for Henkels and McCoy for a while there, while I was working for them, they did, until I left, they required technicians to even wear these gloves while they were terminating jacks because it helped reduce the number of cut injuries. You may be required to buy or have ear protection. Now there's all different kinds of ear protection. You can get the kind that comes over your ears. You can be listening to your radio, stuff like that. They also make the earbuds that are on lanyards. You can put them in. They also make the compressible ones you stick in. That's fine, Just makes that you wear, Because in noisy environments especially if you're going to be dealing construction sites, are very noisy A lot of people don't realize.

Speaker 1: 8:30

Think about safety footwear. Right now I don't want to get into the whole conversation of steel toes or no steel toes. There are some situations, there are some sites that will require to use steel toe shoes. Most of the time, you're not going to be required to wear steel toe shoes, but what you do want, though, is you want a shoe that's going to prevent you from ankle injuries. That's why boots are usually one of the number one chosen types of safety footwear. Also, make sure you buy one with the extra thick shank so that way, if you step on a nail or screw, especially on a new construction site, it doesn't come up through that and puncture the bottom of your foot.

Speaker 1: 9:09

Somebody says steel toe sneakers. I've seen those. I've seen those. I've seen them. My problem with wearing the safety shoes that look like sneakers, while they are compliant, it gives the impression that you're not compliant and what happens is then some people think, well, he's wearing his sneakers and they may not know that they're safety sneakers. That's my only issue with them. Other than that, they're fine.

Speaker 1: 9:32

And then also high-vis clothing. Right Now, this might be a vest, it might be a shirt that's in a bright color. I'll show you. I have a couple high-vis Bixi shirts right, so you can be easily seen on a job site. You can also get the shirts with the reflective stuff on, because you know if you're working in, uh like on the basement floor of a new site where the lighting already well keeps people from bumping into you or running over you with stuff like that, jeff porkland's in the house, hello, jeff. Next question this one comes from chuck and this is a that comes from chuck. This one's for chuck came from a project manager and he says chuck, I'm on a job site that had a couple safety violations. How do I improve my crew's attitude about safety? How do I improve my crew's attitude about safety.

Speaker 1: 10:24

First thing, first thing lead by example. Lead by example. You make sure that you do everything right by your company's safety standards, by the OSHA standards, by the GC standards. You be the ambassador for safety, because they're not going to follow the safety rules if you're not following the safety rules. So always wear the PPE, Always follow the safety protocols. If they've got to make you like, if you want to go down into a manhole to check on some crews, make sure you've had your training. Make sure you wear your harness. If you're going up in a lift, make sure you strap off all that stuff. You've got to demonstrate that strong personal commitment to safety if you want your people to follow you for safety.

Speaker 1: 11:06

The next thing positive reinforcement. So if you see somebody following the safety guidelines and, let's be honest, a new construction site in August, especially down here in the South, it's going to be hot People are going to try not to wear their vests or not wear their gloves because it's hot If you see somebody doing the right stuff all the time, reward them. How much does a $25 gift card cost from Amazon? Yeah, that was a stupid question. So, yeah, you write that off towards the job site. And you know what, when you get that guy look, here's a gift card, because I noticed you have all your PPE You're the first one I spotted. Good job, that word will get around. And next thing you know everybody's going to start wearing their stuff because they're thinking, hey, next time he comes to the job I want to get that.

Speaker 1: 12:03

You see, people are more responsive to positive reinforcement than punitive measures. I say this all the time about dogs, because I train dogs. Positive reinforcement goes a long ways right. And then the next thing, too is if you see somebody who is consistently, consistently wanting to do the right thing, safe things, make them your safety champion. Identify them and empower them as crew members, especially the ones who are very passionate about that safety. Make them. Identify them, make them your safety champions. Maybe make them your safety observer on the job site or something like that, where they can also give positive reinforcement for people doing the right thing.

Speaker 1: 12:48

The next thing, too, is have open communications. Encourage an open door policy for any kind of reporting concerns, so that way if a technician sees an unsafe situation, they're more likely to come to you. And let's be honest, when it comes to safety, there's still a bunch of people out there that they view safety as a hassle. I'm telling you right now and I've said this on more than one occasion I have lost a family member to a safety accident and I guarantee you that his family would rather he follow safety and be here than not follow that safety. So if they see, hey, when they come to you and say, look, I couldn't do this part of the job today because we didn't have the right size ladders, Well, you know what it's. Also, you know don't get on to me. Well, you should have the right size ladders. You know what. You should have known that they needed the right size ladders. You should have known that they needed that extended scissor lift or something like that. So you're part of it as well.

Speaker 1: 13:55

Make sure they have that open environment and make sure that you listen to the feedback that they're giving you. Your crew members are going to be the best people on your job site to help you be successful. Don't ever forget that. Don't ever forget that. Other things you can do is regular safety audits. I always tell my project managers you should be doing a QA inspection on each of your projects at least once a week, no matter what stage it is at. Okay, oh, you should be doing a QA inspection on each of your projects at least once a week, no matter what stage it is at. You should be doing QA audits. And when you're doing the QA audit, also do a safety audit. Document the number of people who had on all their PPE, the people who are working safely. Make sure you engage them or you enroll them in training programs like the OSHA 10 program, the company safety program. Get them training. You know our industry is bad about that. It truly is and then also have them conduct safety meetings. Some people like calling them weekly safety tailgate meetings. Some companies don't even do them daily. They'll do a 10-minute safety tailgate right before work. That's fine too. Just be consistent about it. Be consistent about it and then also make sure that they have all the PPE that they need.

Speaker 1: 15:02

You know, I did an event about a year ago no, it wasn't a year ago. I did an event for a local rep group here and I provided all the safety glasses. I bought 48 safety glasses for like 50, 60 bucks. Okay, so buy a bunch of them, throw them in the back of your truck and, if you see, see a guy on a crew not wearing your safety glasses, ask them why and then give them a brand new pair. What happens a lot is safety glasses get scratched and it gets hard to see through them. So technicians would rather not wear safety glasses because it's hard to see all through all the scratch. They set them down, they get bumped. 60 bucks. You can have 60 of them in the back of your truck and you say here's a new pair, Boom. That way you can take away the excuse. It's up to you to make sure that they are working safely. Question number three and this came to me from Instagram it says Chuck, I got offered a job to install fiber optic cable as an apprentice. How dangerous is this working in the field? So there's again. There's safety risks specifically to the job function and safety risks to the environment.

Speaker 1: 16:10

Let's talk specifically about terminating fiber first. Number one fiber shards. When you're stripping fiber, you will break fiber shards. Do not use electrical tape rolled over backwards. That's a big no-no. Go buy and I've said this before go buy a fiber sharps container. You can buy this off Amazon for $9, $8, right. And then, when it's filled, tape it up, dispose of it properly. Okay, it's happening to everybody. Try to work over a dark surface, because when you break fiber, it's going to make it easier to find it. Always have bright light, right.

Speaker 1: 16:46

And George Humphrey says never eat or drink at your fiber desk. Exactly so I'm not terminating fiber right now so I can have a sip of my drink. Yes, never eat or drink at. Exactly so I'm not terminating fiber right now so I can have a sip of my drink. Yes, Never eat or drink at your fiber station as well. Also, you've got to be careful with chemical exposure. So you're doing some of your older connectors. You might be doing two-part epoxy. Those can put up some kind of noxious fumes. You can be working with alcohol. Alcohol is flammable, so don't smoke or drink at your station as well too.

Speaker 1: 17:16

Another specific type of injury I worry about is protect your eyes from lasers. Right, as a matter of fact, my tool this week because every Wednesday I do name this tool my name, this tool this week was a pair of safety glasses for fiber, and a lot of people got it right. A lot of people said safety glasses, and they are safety glasses, but they're also for working on fiber as well. Let me see so, oh, proper ventilation. That was another one I had in my list. I got my notes here in front of me. Proper ventilation Again, you'll be dealing with at least alcohol. You also might be dealing with two-part epoxy and some other stuff like that and make sure that you're working in a well-ventilated area because while you may not have any problems with it, other people in the area might have breathing issues, asthma, stuff like that that could cause them problems. Okay, All right. So the other things you got to worry about.

Speaker 1: 18:13

The job site is electrical hazards. You can be working in the telecom rooms. Watch out for, you know, electrical shocks with a lot of circuits, because a lot of times the electricians are working on their stuff as well. You might be working at height. You know people think fiber techs Well, they only work, you know, on the ground. No, sometimes they got to climb on top of a ladder and do some work. So watch out for potentials from falls and ladders. Follow your ladder safety tips. Right, you know you follow the quarter rule, three points of contact, all that fun stuff, and keep yourself from doing it. Also, a lot of people don't think about this. With fiber material handling, you might be lifting up a big spool of interduct or fiber. Make sure that you use your legs to pick that stuff up, not your back. Or, if you think it's too much, get people to help you. There's no shame in asking somebody to help you pick up something. No shame whatsoever. Next question this one came to me on Clapper. That's my newest social media platform. Next question this one came to me on Clapper. That's my newest social media platform.

Speaker 1: 19:15

It says Chuck, how can I minimize the risk of electrical hazards while I'm working on a project site? And in his backup paragraph he said that they're doing a work right now where there's a really large electrical crew and there's only like five or 10 of them but there's like 40 electricians. So he's concerned about, I guess they may not be working safely. So number one you know for electrical thing is lockout tagout procedures. Lockout tagout procedures make sure that, uh, that their electricians are using them. If you were ever doing anything that requires electricity, like you know, this guy's gonna be used for fiber to lockout tagout procedure, Cause the number one problem with fiber is contamination. But you know you get get that eye injury. You can use lockout tag out procedures. Make sure that you don't get that eye injury.

Speaker 1: 19:59

Um, you might want to use the insulated tools. You know a lot of this. I got set in my, in my my pack out kit. I've set the screwdrivers that are insulated, so that way if I'm screwing down something where there's a potential, I don't have to worry about getting insulated or getting shocked. I mean, sorry, Avoid wet conditions, because you'll find a lot of times, especially on new construction sites, there's water on the ground. Avoid them. Some people think well, Chuck, I got a wooden ladder. Wood is a good insulator of electricity, but if that wooden ladder has been sitting on the top of your truck and it's been raining for the last few days and it's wet now, now it's a good conductor for electricity. So watch out for this thing and also do regular inspections, checking your equipment. You know, make sure the electrician is doing that, Okay.

Speaker 1: 20:47

Last question this one, this one came to me via TikTok. Direct message says how can I prove the safe? How can I prove safety on the K-Wing job site? So, number one clear instructions. Make sure everybody knows what's expected of them. And that kind of goes. That kind of goes under what I was talking about earlier, those safety tailgate meetings. Right, the very first one. You can have a safety tailgate meeting before you start the job and you can say, look, here's the here, look here's the risks on this job site. Here's how we're going to mitigate those risks. Here's the PPE you should wear In that first one. You should also discuss emergency procedures.

Speaker 1: 21:27

What happens if somebody gets hurt? Who's calling 911? Where's the nearest hospital at? Where's the nearest fire department at one? Where's the nearest hospital at? Where's the nearest fire department at? I do this when I'm processing pigs up on the film, because we quite often will have people help us harvest pigs and they'll come up because they want to learn. And last time we processed pigs we had I don't know nine or 10 people there and my wife and I were the only ones who really knew what we were doing. Everybody else is kind of observing and learning.

Speaker 1: 21:53

So I went through a safety brief and I said look, if something happens, somebody gets injured. And I looked over this one guy. I said, look, you're calling 911. And then, once you call 911, you walk down to the gate, the front gate, and wait for them to arrive and you direct them back to where we're at. And then I told the other person okay, if somebody gets hurt, you're the person responsible grabbing the first aid kit. Here's where the first aid kit is, right and then. So everybody had that expectation. And then I gave backup roles, because what if the person who was supposed to call 9-1-1 got hurt? Right. So I gave me a cross roles as well, emergency procedures. It took literally a few minutes, nobody got hurt. But if they had gotten hurt, that I know that I did everything I could to protect same thing works.

Speaker 1: 22:34

Works on a job site, right? The lead technician, the project foreman, you know, here's where the first aid kit is, John, it's your responsibility to inspect it once a week. Make sure that everything's there. Because what happens on a first aid kit on a new construction site? Band-aids get used up all the time Because people get cuts and all this stuff. Always check and make sure it's full. If something happens, this person calls 911. Who's going to be the person doing the follow-up paperwork on all this? Again, if you have that clear expectation, then they know what they're going to do when the time comes. And then, if the project's going to last more than a few weeks, maybe sometime in the middle, just review those emergency procedures again, just so everybody is revised and knows what the responsibilities are. Also, make sure everybody knows that they really should be reporting any kind of incidents that happen.

Speaker 1: 23:31

Now, not just incidents where an accident actually happened, but also near misses, right, you know? Hey, man, there was almost a bad accident. I was on top of my ladder and as I was climbing down, the ladder fell off because I lifted on top of the ladder and it missed me, so it's a near miss. Okay, so let's talk about that. Use that as an example to teach other people look, don't leave your tools on top of the ladder, because it might avoid an accident in the future. Great thing, Great thing for that. Again, have that open dialogue. I've talked about that earlier.

Speaker 1: 24:04

You know, make sure that everybody's comfortable in discussing safety concerns. And what you'll find a lot of times is it's not just the safety concerns for, not just the safety concerns from your crew, but what about safety concerns for, you know, the electricians and the hvac people? Are they creating an unsafe work environment? I did a project once in in northern virginia where they had tore down some walls, but they, uh, they shot the, the studs into the concrete floor with um, withilti, CC27, Hilti powder actuated tool, with the threaded studs. Well, they pulled up the studs but the metal things were still in the floor sticking up. That's a trip hazard. So we identified that to the GC, said look, we don't want to get anybody in trouble, but we noticed this unsafe work condition and when we took some caution tape we roped it off. He was so happy that we did that. And when we took some caution tape we roped it off. He was so happy that we did that. And they took care of that situation and then it got done.

Speaker 1: 25:00

And then also maybe use technology. A lot of people don't think about that, but make sure that everybody has on larger job sites everybody has a radio so you can communicate to each other. And if a set of job site radios is not really that expensive and and you're working on a project where you've got multiple buildings, everybody's on different floors it's a great way to get a quicker response to an issue. If it happens If somebody trips and falls off the ladder, instead of the person who's working with them having to go all the way down to the first floor, walking all the way to the job site trailer, to tell the project manager oh, John fell, and now they've got to call 911, and they've got to walk all the way back to the job site. If you have a set of radios, that's instantaneous, Instantaneous.

Speaker 1: 25:42

And the reason I say radios is because cell phones work the same way. But there are a lot of sites that you will be working where cell phones may not be allowed on job sites because some safety programs consider cell phones may not be allowed on job sites, because some some safety programs consider cell phones a distraction because people are so glued to their cell phones and stuff like that. So that's why I said radios, cell phones, work if they're allowed on the job site. Absolutely they can um, and then also maybe create here's here's a good one Maybe create a group text system if you allow yourself cell phones. I did a project once in Natchez Florida no, Natchez Mississippi, sorry and they had a tornado alert and if we'd all had cell phones we could have set up a text group and sent one text message to the entire group saying look, tornado's been spotted. Everybody go to the identified safe zone. That's instantaneous notification to everybody.

Speaker 1: 26:37

So use technology to your benefits. There's absolutely nothing wrong with it. Jeff is in the house. Hello, Mr Jeff, how you doing?

Speaker 1: 26:45

My friend Michael says five years for hard hat expiration. I'll do it with either two or five. Most manufacturers have the date imprinted on the brim. That's exactly right. That's why that hellhard hat right there is not being used on a job site anywhere because it's expired. I don't want to have any problems with that at all at all, All righty. So then we turn that off, All righty.

Speaker 1: 27:09

For some reason it didn't broadcast on YouTube tonight. I don't know why I did that. That is weird. That on YouTube tonight. I don't know why I did that. That is weird. That is weird. Okay, so the next two nights, the next two live streams, I'm going to do a two-part series, but they're going to be recorded. But I'm going to come out. I haven't come out. Thursday at 6 pm it's going to be a two-part series on most common cable testing problems and how to fix them. I've got to record this weekend and get the metadata and get that post-it ready to go. So all right, everybody, we are at 629 and a half. That's closing up 630 for me. I hope you enjoyed this live stream. If you did enjoy this live stream, make sure you like, share, subscribe, Make sure you tell people about the podcast. I'm still looking for Patreon members still looking for corporate sponsorship because it's getting kind of expensive to run this podcast. I need help. I need help. All right, everybody. Until next time, remember knowledge is power.

Speaker 2: 28:06

That's it for this episode of today's podcast. We hope you were able to learn something. Make sure to subscribe so you don't miss out on future content. Also, leave a rating so we can help even more people learn about telecommunications. Until next time, be safe.