Tips for Fighting Fatigue While Driving

Tips for Fighting Fatigue While Driving

With the warm weather here contractors are working later and families are taking frequent vacations. With these extended activities comes the drive home and after a full day of hard work and play comes unsafe driving fatigue. Being aware of driving fatigue could make a difference in getting home safe and having a potential accident. Below are symptoms and steps to take to combat driving fatigue.

Recognize the signs

When driving, you should be aware of the signs of fatigue and take the necessary safety measures to avoid it. This includes the following:

• Restlessness—Squirming in your seat, stretching, eye rubbing, cracking the knuckles

• Experiencing short lapses of attention—As fatigue sets in, you pay less attention to the instrument panel and rear/side view mirrors.

• Staring ahead, appearing to be in a trance—You’re less responsive at the wheel, change speed erratically, weave back and forth, and even cross the centerline or drift off the road entirely. At this stage, you are a hazard to yourself as well as others.

Often fatigue may also produce a mental state that will trick you into believing you are driving safely. When tired, drivers often imagine conditions that do not exist. A reaction to some imaginary condition may be disastrous.

Learn to recognize the signs of fatigue, follow all safe driving practices and get the appropriate rest required to safely operate a motor vehicle. Should you become too tired, pull off the road and take a break.

Arrive Alive

Tips for arriving at your destination safely

• Do not operate a vehicle while tired, ill, or with any other condition that makes your driving ability less than 100 percent.

• Do not operate a vehicle beyond the hours of service limitations developed by the Bureau of Motor Carrier Safety.

• Make frequent rest stops. Any activity which substitutes a different physical act for the monotony of driving helps refresh a driver.

• Fatigue comes on very suddenly. When it hits, a driver should not wait to get off the road before falling asleep. A fatigued driver should pull well off the road and take an extended rest break.

• Do not use alcohol or drugs of any kind, at any time. Anti-sleep drugs may increase alertness for a short period. However, their use is often followed by headaches, dizziness, agitation or irritability, decreased power of concentration, and the onset of extreme fatigue. In addition, some cold and flu medications cause marked drowsiness, so it is important to read the labels before you purchase them.

Fall prevention for contractors

The 6th annual National Safety Stand-Down to prevent falls will take place this week. The Stand-Down was conceived by OSHA in 2014 as part of the National Falls Campaign to raise awareness surrounding the severity of fall hazards in construction and the importance of preventing them.

Fall protection and safety is a major concern at construction sites. In fact, OSHA cites injuries from falls as one of its top 10 work-site injuries.

Falls and falling objects can result from unstable working surfaces, ladders that are not safely positioned, and misuse of fall protection. Workers are also subject to falls or the dangers of falling objects if sides and edges, floor holes, and wall openings are not protected. Any time you are working at a height of six feet or more on the construction site, you must be protected.

Unprotected Sides, Wall Openings, and Floor Holes

Almost all sites have unprotected sides and edges, wall openings, or floor holes at some point during construction. If these sides and openings are not protected, injuries from falls or falling objects may result. Use at least one of the following whenever you are exposed to a fall of six feet or more above a lower level:

• Guardrail systems

• Safety net systems

• Fall arrest systems

Additional Safety Precautions

• Cover or guard floor holes promptly after creating them.

• Construct floor hole covers so they will effectively support two times the weight of workers, equipment, and materials that may be imposed on the cover at any one time.

• Use fall prevention systems like guardrails rather than protection systems like safety nets or fall arrest devices.

Ladders

You also increase your chances of falling if you are using portable ladders that are not safely positioned each time you use them. While you are on a ladder, it may move or slip from its supports. You may also lose your balance while getting on and off an unsteady ladder.

Take the following fall protection measures when using ladders:

• Position portable ladders so side rails extend at least three feet above the landing.

• Secure side rails at the top to a rigid support and use a grab device when a three-foot extension is not possible.

• Make sure that the weight on the ladder will not cause it to slip off its support.

• Inspect ladders for cracked, broken, or defective parts prior to each use. If a ladder is broken, tag it as defective and remove it from service.

• Don’t apply more weight on a ladder than it is designed to support.

• Only use ladders that comply with OSHA standards.