Ensure Safety
No matter what business you’re in there are injuries. It is important to understand the hazards and plan accordingly. There are several reasons people get hurt, but even an expert can’t stay out of harm’s way.
The most common flooring installation injury comes from hazardous chemicals. Found in the adhesives, finishes, and resins. So, this means exposure is regular for our team. Harmful chemicals can cause eye, throat, and skin irritation and without treatment cancer. Some tips and tricks we teach our teams are to ensure a door or window is always open. If that isn’t possible, we bring in industrial fans for air circulation. We also provide and require eye protection, masks, and gloves. Field supervisors visit the sites and ensure we are taking these safety precautions.
Another common injury is the wear and tear on the body. Manual labor of flooring installation can cause harm to the shoulder, back, and knees. This is due to the repetitive motion of heavy lifting or an on-site accident. We can prevent these injuries by teaching our team to lift with their legs and not their back. Engage the core when lifting instead of arching the back. The lower back strains while on the floor and while lifting so this is most important to protect. It is up to the installer if they need a back brace, a support belt, or even knee pads to absorb shock. These support systems are not required but have many advantages. For instance, preventing chronic pain, scrapes, punctures, fractures, and shooting pain. Our team tries to work smarter than harder when we can, but manual labor is in the daily job description.?Daily stretching, drinking lots of water, and healthy eating can strengthen the core. We recommend anyone that who has a previous injury take precautions to avoid injury.
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No matter what job site we prepare our team for what is ahead. We have training classes for upcoming projects using new tools. These are also great reminders of technique. The photo shows our technical training. We sometimes even have a vendor come in to teach their products and best practices. Each class includes topics on safety, product knowledge, and how to install at a high quality. It is also a great way to update them on new equipment and test it to see if we need more resources on the job. We want to make spaces better places to live and work. So we share our knowledge, ask questions, and learn from our mistakes. Those in the field today are more prepared and self-aware of what we can do on the job. This helps set expectations and improve communication. We work together to be safe!