emergency flashers??

[yahoo]

when you stop to do a locate and you turn on you emergency flashers, is this enough to warn anyone that you are about to perform your job at this location??? OR should our trucks have a little more safety features like flashing taillights/headlights, or beacons??? OR is that too much drawing attention and could cause an accident anyway???? what do you guys/gals think??? Thank you for your input !

[FiosKing]

i feel pretty safe with my led flashers ect

[ifinditunderground]

You should have your hazards on at a minimum. Your truck should also be equipped with a strobe or beacon of some sort.

[Goldenboy]

Flashers work but when I'm in traffic the beacon does make me feel better.

[ohlocator]

I had a truck a few years ago that blew a fuse everytime I tried to turn on the Beacon. Not alot of fun,especially in a low visibility area at night

[ifinditunderground]

In-vehicle 12V plugs typically aren't strong enough to handle a load like the lights put on them, you really do have to bite the bullet and hard wire them. I've had to do that on all of my vehicles because we were burning plugs up at a horrific rate. Both the sockets in the truck, and the plug on the light.

[Mke]

I have a full light bar on my truck, that tends to get the attention of drivers (especially if i forget to turn them off). I have spot lights on the light bar as well, so at night it tends to get attention (shows them i'm out of the truck walking around).

Emergency flashers are better then nothing, but if that is all you have, you should toss out some cones if its a busy street.

mke

[paintitnow]

is emergency flashers enough, how many times you see those clips of a unattentive driver slamming into the rear of a parked car. You want to draw attention that you are there. Our trucks have a beacon, the flashers and we have to put out cones. If you look at what the utility companies do, they do the same thing to try to keep their people safe and letting drivers know something is happening

[Mke]

Paintitnow, Beacons or no beacons, locators are moving targets out on the roadway. We had a local Gas locator hit and killed a few years back, and his Beacon and cones didn't help him a bit.


When it comes down to it, if your going to get hit by a stupid driver, there is no place to hide. The best thing to do is try to keep out of the lane of travel, and if you are in the lane of travel, put cones far enough back so if someone hits the cone, they will notice before ending up in the bed of your truck.

mke

[ifinditunderground]

The flashers, beacons, cones, safety vests, reflective on trucks and hardhats, etc. won't necessarily keep you from getting killed. What they WILL do is prove in a court of law that YOU did your job in attempting to warn traffic of your presence and the driving dangers you create by being there. If you don't do those things and you get killed on the road your family won't have a leg to stand on in a civil suit to attempt to recover some money for you being killed or maimed. Think about it.

[AULupstate]

Dash rotator with 'M' mirror, Mini Rotator Bar on the roof and L.E.D. lights in the back window.
Cones with Reflective tape
New vest every year and a half or so
Firefighter reflective trapazoids on my hard hat.

Yes people (drivers) are stupid. Nothing will EVER stop you from being hit, maimed or killed. That is a chance we take everyday professionally and personally. All we can do is mitigate that chance down to a slim margine of actually happening.

Use your PPE (whatever you have) and always keep 'Situational Awareness'.

[yahoo]

Dash rotator with 'M' mirror, Mini Rotator Bar on the roof and L.E.D. lights in the back window.
Cones with Reflective tape
New vest every year and a half or so
Firefighter reflective trapazoids on my hard hat.

Yes people (drivers) are stupid. Nothing will EVER stop you from being hit, maimed or killed. That is a chance we take everyday professionally and personally. All we can do is mitigate that chance down to a slim margine of actually happening.

Use your PPE (whatever you have) and always keep 'Situational Awareness'.

now ...that's what i'm talking about..should i have to buy these things myself???? i have a 2 light beacon and 2 5 year old cones that are black not orange..ha..and my er flashers>>>>????? i want more for extra safety....

[Dave72]

Picture the most probably 'bad' situation that you might have to park/work at, and carry the proper equipment for it. Have you ever worked just past the top of a hill, or on a corner etc ? Probably a good idea to have a rolled up Men Working sign (the international 'language' type.. or what I like to see as 'Man Shoveling Poop' ). I also carry 7 large orange cones (with retro bands on them) on my truck.. seems to be enough for 95% of the cases..) A tear-away reflective orange vest is a great thing to have too.

Your state highway dept probably has a listing of the minimum required signage required for temporary work. CYA.

ifindit has a good point too, and it could get worse.. maybe the guy that smashes into you actually sues you for improper warning of the hazard.

[haze]

It's good to know everyone is using all their safety equipment. The most important factor is to use are HEADS.

Keep your eyes and ears open and don't challenge the traffic. We usually get in trouble when we have a brain fart.

STAY ALERT AND BEWARE OF YOUR SURROUNDINGS!!!

[AULupstate]

Yahoo, most of these companies get away with giving out the worse, crappy, cheap, non-working absolute minimum PPE. That way they can show they did it.

I bought my own because I wanted too. My safety (or FEELING safe) is definately worth it to me.