The Safety Dance: Or, Shop Safety in the Heavy-Duty World

🎶We can dance if we want to

We can leave your friends behind

‘Cause your friends don’t dance

And if they don’t dance

Well they’re no friends of mine…🎶

Whoa, whoa, hold up there, partner. 

Dancing? In a heavy-duty repair shop? Bruh. There’s big, heavy equipment all over — the kind of stuff that’ll really hurt if you stub your toe on it. And dude, don’t encourage everyone to join in! That’s a one-way ticket to pain. 

Let’s not even get started on how dangerous roaming around without a hard hat could be.

Okay, okay, the joke is over. “The Safety Dance” is a most excellent bop, but it describes a kind of club dancing (“pogoing”) instead of staying safe in a heavy-duty repair shop. And since this is a heavy-duty blog and not a musical review, alas, we must now pivot into the serious conversation of…wait for it…safety.

More specifically, how shops think about safety beyond OSHA and the other regulations out there. 

Did they build out programs, or link financial incentives to safety? Did they just say “Good luck kid” and send apprentices out on their way with nary a warning? Obviously, mileage varies based on what a shop is working on, where they’re working on it, and the skill level of the tech doing the work. 

We rounded up some familiar faces:

• Jordan Steen of Six Gun Diesel Repair, a one-man band
• Mike Bascom of Bascom Truck & Auto, GM at a large shop
• Peter Cooper of Ascend Consultancy, general wizard

Before proceeding, we’d like to acknowledge OSHA, the spectre looming over every repair operation out there. We are not OSHA, nor are we today referencing the approximately 50 bazillion pages that apply to repair shops. Instead, we’re providing general advice from experienced shop owners who prioritize heavy-duty shop safety. In other words, make sure to stay OSHA compliant, but we hope these real life tips and tricks will help you and your technicians stay safe. 

SAFETY IN SHOPS: DATA & THE IMPORTANCE OF WORDING

First things first: during our conversations, we learned a lot of shop owners associate the word program with something formal, and so often their first response to “Do you have a safety program?” is “Well, no.” 

Except program, for us, is shorthand for “Hey, do you care about safety in your shop?” And when we ask that, the answer is “Yes, we do!” 

(Hence the interesting number we got from the latest State of Heavy-Duty Repair survey: 49% of respondents stated they had a safety program. It’s entirely possible that number is much higher.)

Why do you want to focus on safety in your heavy-duty shop? Well…for starters, it’s the right thing to do; these folks are working for you, and you want them looked after (or, if you’re a one-man band, you want to look after yourself). But we can also put it in financial terms for those who think that way: A safer tech is generally going to bring in more revenue because they aren’t going to be laid up recovering from some kind of preventable injury.

Think about all the machinery involved in heavy-duty maintenance and repair. Think of the vehicles themselves. Something falls on your foot…it’s gonna hurt.

“The foot would be the best-case scenario for something to fall on,” Jordan noted during our conversation. After all, you can do without a foot.

We’re kidding. 

Mostly.

Anyway. Big, heavy equipment can cause a lot of damage to the human body. This industry is already notoriously difficult on the body even when accidents are avoided. Hence the focus on safety: think of it as preventive maintenance for your techs (or, again, for yourself). 

PRACTICAL ADVICE FOR HEAVY-DUTY SHOP SAFETY 

Get equipment to help you move things. 

Yes, you can generally move some things around with pure muscle and willpower alone…but why do that when there are devices that can help? “We buy equipment as needed to handle stuff,” Mike said. “Things for moving wheels, for moving the hubs, stuff like that.” 

Report and tag any damaged equipment so it can be repaired or replaced. 

This may feel obvious, but think about it…one of your techs spots a busted lift. They make a mental note to report it, but are waylaid en route to the office by a customer. Someone else uses the lift. The lift collapses.

This is obviously a worst-case scenario, but it’s also a possibility in a busy shop. “If you see something, say something” applies to malfunctioning machinery, too. 

Use jack stands rather than just a jack when someone is under a vehicle. 

Yeah, you can get away with using just a jack sometimes. John Hammond got away with cloning dinosaurs. But as we all learned from Jurassic Park, just because you can doesn’t mean you should. 

A jack stand might be a little more expensive, but the extra stability it provides when a giant vehicle is hovering over your people is worth it. And along those lines, make sure you have jack stands rated for the kind of equipment you’re working on. If you’re not sure about a vehicle coming in, look up its weight and make sure you’ve got what you need.

Get your people trained on tires. 

Even if your shop isn’t mounting or dismounting tires, your people should know how to deal with them safely. “Tires can be really scary if they’re not managed well,” Peter said. 

(How scary, you ask? Well…they can explode, depending on pressure, and — if handled poorly — can potentially harm the person installing them or the customer and/or people sharing the road with them after they leave. Proper tiring handling is important.)

Provide PPE. 

There’s been ongoing conversations in the industry about whether shops should provide tools for their techs. This can also extend to Personal Protective Equipment, or PPE. Steel-toed or composite boots are absolute foot-savers (bonus: composite boots keep your feet warm in inclement weather). 

Then there’s the usual suspects: gloves, goggles, hard hats. Vests if your people are going mobile. We can get more granular, too — does your shop provide occasional welding? Masks are a must. Hey, what about hearing protection? Eardrums are sensitive creatures. 

Quality counts when it comes to PPE — yeah, you can find hard hats for $40, but how long are they gonna last? The pricey gear is usually more durable, will last longer, and is more comfortable, to boot (which means techs are likelier to wear it). 

Speaking of comfort…

Yes, comfort is important.

We’ve talked before about making your shop a comfortable place for your staff to be, but right now we’re thinking beyond coffee, snacks, and a quiet place to eat lunch. Comfort plays into safety more than a lot of us would like to admit — think about it, if your knees are aching or your fingers are freezing, really, how productive are you going to be when you’re under a vehicle or trying to work on an engine? 

At the very minimum, physical discomfort can pull a tech’s attention away from the job at hand. More severe discomfort (like working in extreme cold or heat) can damage someone’s ability to do the job at all — freezing fingers, for example, just aren’t as dextrous as, well, non-freezing fingers. And your tech is not going to be able to get a job done if his knees are absolutely screaming after an hour on concrete. Look into kneeling pads or knee pads, protective sleeves (mesh or kevlar), gloves, and hard hats to start with.  

Focus on ladder safety. 

All three of our interviewees touched on the troubles they’ve seen around ladders. Techs are often working on tall machines and need a boost to reach higher areas; that often means moving ladders around, folding them up, opening them, and re-locking them into place. 

Check your ladders frequently to ensure they’re in good shape — that no steps are damaged or loose, that the locks work properly, that it feels solid on a flat surface. And for the love of Chef Boyardee, if a ladder needs to be moved over a bit…encourage your people to climb down and move it manually. Do not try to “jump” the ladder from the top rung (and if you do, please don’t tell us). Also, do not just prop a ladder against a wall and trust that it will stay up while you’re on it. That way lies ruin and a broken back.

Mike noted that Bascom Truck & Auto ended up purchasing a scissor lift when they expanded their operation. That scissor lift has taken the place of ladders when they need to make repairs on trailers and/or the building. Not everyone has the space, but if you do, look into it. 

SAFETY AND THE MOBILE TECH

Your focus on safety shouldn’t end at your garage doors. Heavy-duty shop safety extends to your mobile techs and their working environments.

Roadside repair comes with its own hazards (no pun intended). We’ll get into weather and gear in a moment, but before anything else, we need to discuss a relatively recent addition to…well…any kind of highway or roadside rescue. Something that’s only become an issue within the last 20 or so years. 

Yes, folks, we are talking about the tiny supercomputer so many of us are glued to.

We do not deny the impact that cell phones have had on society. They’re an awesome addition to roadside safety — you can use it to offer directions, call a tow, order a meal, watch a funny cat video, or play a video game.

While you’re driving.

Folks have their faces buried in their phones. That’s less attention to spare for the road and other drivers (or people working in the vicinity). We’ve heard from several mobile techs over the years that they just don’t do highway work anymore because of it. They’ll meet a driver if they can exit somewhere safe, but they aren’t pulling up directly in front of or behind someone on the freeway anymore.

This huge screed boils down to one thing: be extra aware of your surroundings on the road. You’re competing with phones and everything on them (as well as screaming backseat drivers and heavy metal cranked up to combat sleep deprivation). In other words, stay alert. 

We’ve also got additional recommendations: 

Dress for success — er, the elements.

That old Roxette song might as well have been about dressing for roadside repair. You’re leaving the garage and heading out into The Weather, which — in some areas — can change in the blink of an eye. 

Are you venturing towards rain, snow, the darkness of night? Check the weather forecast and dress accordingly before jumping on the road. Keep an extra set of clothes in your truck. If you’re in a place that experiences True Winter, think about heavy socks, a cozy jacket, and waterproof or water-resistant gear. 

And don’t assume you’ll be easy to see just because it’s light out! Reflective vests and other clothing will make you more visible to other drivers zooming by, even if they’re glancing at their phones.

Temperature control devices. 

The right clothing can go a long way towards making a job more bearable, but if you’re working in really nasty weather, there is equipment you can turn to. 

For Jordan, that’s a big torpedo heater that he throws into the back of his service truck. It runs off diesel fuel; he can build a shelter on whatever machine he’s working on, bring the heater up, and point it at himself so he can keep his fingers nimble in frigid weather. In the summer, he’s got a big umbrella he can hang from his service truck’s crane so he has some shade while he works.

“Those kinds of things make my life exponentially better being outside,” he said, “and I would say they’re definitely safety-related things.”

Get your own PPE & gear. 

Maybe clients will provide these for you, or at least pay for them, but they may not. So stock on things like kneepads, a kneeling mat, and something to lay on while working underneath a ‘dozer in a landfill. You know, so you’re not laying directly on diapers, needles, and other people’s garbage. 

Call for backup. 

This isn’t going to be the answer for everyone, but it’s a possibility if you’ve got a big highway job and are concerned about distracted or hostile drivers, you may be able to get law enforcement involved. 

Mike told us that back when he was in the service truck, he would sometimes call out State Patrol to sit just behind the vehicle he was working on. The flashing lights caught the attention of drivers who might not otherwise move over or slow down…and yes, even in a time of cell phones, the bright lights of the po-po put fear of being chased into otherwise distracted drivers.

We’ll leave it to you to research how this might work in your particular area. But even if you don’t get an assist from local law enforcement, make sure to bring along equipment that will catch the eye of other drivers. Think flares, triangle reflectors, cones, and so on — basically anything that makes you visible. 

Work on the vehicle in a safer area.

This doesn’t just apply to highways — mobile techs also get called out to work on broken-down farming and construction equipment that may be on an active job site. Techs might be dealing with uneven ground, busy people all around, and much more. Sometimes the machine just can’t be moved, but sometimes it can be towed or hauled to a safer space — be it a fleet yard, a parking lot, or something in between. 

A SAFER TECH IS A BETTER TECH

Even the safest diesel mechanic is going to face some element of risk. That’s acknowledged throughout the industry and by everyone we spoke to; you can take every precaution and something can still go wrong. That’s how it is. New equipment and technology can mitigate some of that risk, but it will still exist in some capacity. Those who get into the field know it and accept it.

The interviews we conducted for this article yielded a lot of stories and information — more than we could ever fit in one post. We picked out the shop safety concerns most consistently voiced by our trio, and those concerns do align with what we’ve seen on webinars and in other conversations with industry folk. What it comes down to is this: We can’t remove all risk, but we can focus on steps to make the job safer for those in the bay and out in the wilds. Using common sense, purchasing and deploying safety equipment, and discussing both of those matters with your crew at least a couple times per year will help keep everyone on the same (safe) page. 

Now that’s a song we can dance to.