Protect Your Employees With These 5 Essential Summer Safety Tips

No matter what the weather is outside or what season of the year it is, it’s always important to practice good safety measures when you’re working with a septic pump truck business. Working with a septic pump truck is exhausting, hard work, and during the summer, it is more important than any other time of the year to ensure that your employees are kept safe and are well taken care of. 

If you’re concerned about keeping your employees safe during the summer heat, here are a few tips to add to your checklist:

 

1. Check the weather before you head out on a job. 

One thing is for certain when you’re working in the summer: it’s going to be hot. The weather might be beautiful for going outside to swim or have a picnic, but when you’re working an outdoor job with a ton of manual labor involved, the sun-warmed air can turn blindingly hot in an instant. This is why, even though you may have an idea of what the weather might be like, you should check the forecast before any – and every – job. 

When the temperature climbs too high, though, it makes an already dangerous job that much more dangerous. If you have to accept a job in extremely hot temperatures, ensure that your employees are taking proper breaks and drinking plenty of water. If possible, it is a good idea to work in the early morning or in the evening in order to miss the hottest part of the day. While it may be a bit inconvenient for business, it will benefit your business in the long run to ensure that your employees are taken care of!

 

2. Do a full check-over before going on any jobs. 

Just like you’re supposed to check over your car before heading out on the road, the same is true for heading out on a job in your septic pump truck. Quite a few issues can be avoided if you train your employees to simply take the time before leaving to go on a job to cast their eyes over the truck one last time for any kind of problems or issues. 

Ensure that all pumps are sealed and working properly and that all equipment on the truck is ready to go. You should also train your employees to look at the truck itself: the tires, the lights, etc. Doing regular checks could save you a lot of heartache later on!

 

3. Make sure employees are practicing good self-care habits. 

When you head to work, especially when you work outside, it can be extremely easy to neglect your own self-care. This might not even be intentional; it might just be circumstances that you hadn’t even considered. This is why, as an employer, it’s vital to ensure that your employees are practicing good self-care habits out in the hot sun. 

When you check in on the job site, ask a few questions. Have all of the employees been taking regular water breaks and breaks from the heat? Are they all wearing sunscreen? Do they have sunglasses to protect their eyes from the sun? Working with a septic pump truck might not be the same as working something like a construction job, but it’s still just as important to take care of yourself and to take regular breaks.  

 

4. Good training is more important than anything. 

Ensuring that all employees on your team are trained properly is essential to enforcing good safety measures. If your team isn’t sure how to approach a situation, they’re not going to know how to handle any kind of issues safely and securely. Employ regular training periods and make sure that a training guide is present with each team so that they can look up answers if they’re unsure about something. 

5. Human eyes are just as important as computers. 

In general, businesses rely on computers for many – if not all – of their day to day tasks. The advancement of technology has helped to catapult the efficiency and effectiveness of many different types of work miles ahead of where it was before, and that includes the use of septic pump trucks. You might be surprised at how many monitors and mechanisms are on a pump truck!

That does not mean, however, that technology is infallible. You are almost guaranteed to have a piece of technology stop functioning at some point, and it’ll be up to you to figure out how to fix it or reprogram it. Computers and monitors are not always going to catch everything. That’s why it’s so vital to have the human element involved in all of your business dealings. 

When you’re getting ready to go out on a job, train your staff to look over everything the computer looks over. Ensure that your employees know where the machines can falter and how to repair them if they do. Tell them to trust their eyes and to trust their gut, because even though the computer might say that they’re good to go, if their eyes are telling them that it isn’t a good idea, they should trust that instinct. Computers only exist in a finite space, but humans will be able to analyze things from every angle to ensure the best – and safest – outcome for whatever it is you’re working on. 

 

Staying Safe When Working with a Septic Pump Truck

Just like with any other manual labor job, working with a septic pump truck requires a lot of care and consideration when heading out to a job site. This is especially true during the summer months, when the hot weather can lead to many unprecedented side effects. 

Here at Flowmark, we do our best to ease your burden, giving you the knowledge that your septic pump truck is built with the highest quality products in a state of the art manufacturing facility. We take pride in every truck that we send out the door, and knowing that our trucks can help to keep your employees safe is something that we truly take to heart.

If you’re interested in seeing what kind of trucks we can offer your business, contact us for a quote or more information today!