L ET’ S TA LK S A FE TY This column addresses safety issues of interest to water and wastewater personnel, and will appear monthly in the magazine. The Journal is also interested in receiving any articles on the subject of safety that it can share with readers in the “Spotlight on Safety” column.
Mobile Devices— and Working—Don’t Mix It’s well-documented and understood that texting while driving is extremely unsafe. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has found that drivers who use hand-held devices while driving are four times as likely to get into crashes serious enough to injure—and even kill—themselves and others. What about the risks caused by cell phones and smart devices used at work— while operating machinery, on a construction site, or in a laboratory? These risks in the workplace are less documented, but can have the same injurious or fatal consequences. For instance, a worker at a utility severed several fingers on one of his hands while operating a chop saw; he was holding his phone between his neck and ear when the accident occurred. Some of the main issues of cell phone and smart device use while at work are discussed here.
Distractions
Entanglements
Use of cell phones or smart devices requires cognitive, visual, and manual attention. This means that any time a worker is using one of these devices, his or her mind is not fully engaged on the job at hand. Using cell phones can also decrease productivity. In a workplace environment that requires a high level of self-awareness, being distracted can result in high-consequence accidents, including loss of life. Employers who require employees to use cars, vans, or trucks must understand that their policies and training regarding the safe operation of those vehicles, and the inclusion of a clear prohibition against texting on a hand-held mobile phone while driving, are of considerable interest to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), law enforcement, insurers, and potential civil litigants. Failure to address this hazard can result in significant employer liability.
Similar to restrictions on long hair and wearing jewelry, which is often not allowed in high-risk work environments, cell phones or smart devices can get entangled in machinery and interfere with the proper use of personal protective equipment (PPE). It’s important that work personnel refrain from use of these communication devices. If a cell phone is dropped, the employee’s impulse may be to reach into moving machinery to retrieve it, risking injury or loss of life. A worker could also place himself in danger by removing some PPE, such as a hard hat, in order to fully put his cellphone on his ear, or his safety gloves, to send a text. This could also cause an injury. Distractions and entanglements are issues that workers do not want to have while completing jobs that often require both hands—and always require their full attention.
Heavy Machinery Many heavy-machinery jobs common at companies and on construction sites require everyone onsite to have their full attention on the task at hand. Tens of thousands of injuries related to forklifts and other equipment occur every year. Many injuries happen when lift trucks are driven by distracted drivers who inadvertently drive off loading docks, drive into fellow coworkers or other items, or the forklift tips over. Some accidents happen when a distracted worker falls off an elevated area or pallet. Mobile phone distractions can exacerbate existing hazards at a construction site. Employees may already be prone to tripping on uneven terrain and may be exposed to trap hazards working in a confined space. Other employees who are working near Continued on page 8
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6 March 2023 • Florida Water Resources Journal