SAFETY – Your 2015 New Year ’ s Resolution!!

1. SAFETY – Your 2015 New Year’s Resolution!! Winter!! So far, it’s not the worst we’ve seen, but be ready. Because we spend a lot of time behind the wheel, this issue of the safety-gram will focus on WINTER DRIVING & COLD! Road Salt – highly corrosive. If you live in the ice belt, keep your pressure washer in warm storage, use it to clean the rigs whenever you have the chance. Baking soda added to wash water helps neutralize salt. Keep your light lenses and vehicle-mounted signage clean, as much as possible. Use a pole to reach strobe lights on top of cab or spreader box. Avoid the need for climbing when possible. If ice/salt clumps up while loading spreader boxes, use the loader to clear it, not a shovel.Salt sites should have an access rack built to provide safe access to top side. Fatigue is a big problem during major snow events. Plan for driver rotations to allow for sufficient rest intervals. Remember, coffee and Red Bull are not hydrating beverages.

2. Cold Weather Dress Code • Several light layers of clothing are best insulation. Core body heat is from the waist up. Head and neck are high heat loss areas. • Use insulated helmet liners, scarves, vests, thermal coveralls and long underwear. Outer layer should be wind and rain resistant. • Avoid bulky garments if you are driving – cabs will warm up quickly. You need dexterity to drive properly. • Pick the best glove suited to the task. In extreme cold, glove liners are advised. Keep a spare pair in a warm place. • Hands and feet will become cold first – use an insulating material to avoid standing on cold ground. Try using bulky, thermal socks. • Use paper face mask or scarf to cover mouth and nose – cold, dry air can be irritating. Wear eye protection – a lot of heat loss is from the face.

3. Snow Clearing Safety • If using a Bobcat or similar small machine, make absolutely certain that NO PERSON is going to be on the ground in the vicinity. Pedestrian fatality in NYC last year, operator cleaning a store parking lot that was open and in use. He was also alleged to have been driving and backing too fast. • Be sure high viz. warning markers and flags are properly placed. • People take a lot of chances when in a snowstorm. It’s not a recreational or entertainment event, but a lot of folks think it’s a version of Disneyland. Tow trucks are very busy. Protect yourself with DISTANCE. • If you live or work in areas with steep grades, plan for safe navigation. Studded tires, chains or 4WD are about the only options, or use an alternate route. • Moderate your speed on icy roads. Add weight to vehicles for stability; keep a full fuel tank; use dry gas or fuel conditioner. • When towing a vehicle, use proper tow straps and attachment hardware and stay well clear. Clear the area around your wheels, keep wheels straight.

4. Stuck In Snow – It Happens • If you live in the snow belt, you know this stuff by now and have your winter emergency kit already stowed on the family fleet. • Here are some tips if snow-bound: • Keep the area well clean around exhaust pipe. The last thing you want is for CO to seep under the chassis and infiltrate the cab. • Keep windows cracked open for air circulation, keep an eye on the engine temperature gauge. • Try to get out of travel lanes if possible, to allow the plows to get through. • You did pack a strong shovel, correct? Handy to dig yourself out after the plow goes through. • Cell phones help a lot, even if only to ease the anxiety – at lease we know where you are stranded. Make sure you have the 12v power outlet phone charger. • Water, snacks, energy bars. If the forecast is questionable or ugly in the first place, don’t even take the chance, stay home.

5. Defensive Driving in WINTER • You best be staying WELL AWAY from the Big Rigs. There can easily be A TON of ice on the top of that box van, warming up in the morning sun, as it starts to melt and slide….right off the edge. • Snow & Ice BLOW OFF of big rigs will occur on the highway at speed. Or when the rig goes under a minimum clearance BRIDGE. YOU do not want to be in the vicinity, so Mid-Westerners, please pay attention. • Also On the Alert List: Black Ice, glare ice, rime, frost, frozen bridge decks, ice heaves, potholes, highways with bad drainage, bridges that have not been swept all season (drains plugged); snow banks on the high side of a turn will melt during daytime, causing a sheet of ICE at night. The list of winter cold hazards is indeed LONG. • Suffice to say, try to use interstates or at least 4-lane roads as much as possible. Avoid 2-lane undivided when there are options. The guys in Florida are laughing about now. No one said it was going to be easy. • Check your tires. If you only have 2-wheel drive, then tread depth and pattern, edge wear and proper inflation become VERY important in snow.

6. Winter Running Gear • Long distance driving – change out of the heavy boots. • When you step out of the cab however…bear in mind that slip & fall while getting on or off the rig is the NUMBER ONE cause of accident to drivers and equipment operators. • In other words: THREE POINT STANCE. Put the work boots on! • Other handy winter gear: Long handled ice scrapers, angled brooms, ergonomic design snow shovel; spray de-icer; low temp. windshield washer fluid; 5 gal. buckets of sand/salt mix – (also handy for ballast); and best of all, WD-40, very handy to prevent stuff from freezing up - Water Displacement - on door and compartment seals, locks, linkages, hinges, mechanisms of all types, anything subject to freeze, spray it! • Safety Tip: when walking on snow or frozen ground, slopes or other irregular surface, carry a long handled tool for upper body stability. And wear gloves. When you do lose your balance, hopefully the stick will allow you to fall less heavily. And the gloves will protect your hands.